Forms: α. 4–5 tene·tz, 5 teneys, 6 ten(n)es; β. 5 tenyce, tenyys, 5–6 tenys, -yse, tennys, -yse, 6 tenice, tennysse, (tinnis), 6–7 tenis, -ise, tennise, -ice, (7 Sc. tinneis), 6– tennis. [Known c. 1400 in form tene·tz, later tenne·s, teney·s, -ys, -yce, teni·se; in It. mentioned in the Cronica di Firenze of Donato Velluti (who died in 1370) as tenes, and said to have been introduced into Florence by French knights early in the year 1325. For ulterior history and etymology see Note below.]
1. A game in which a ball is struck with a racket and driven to and fro by two players in an enclosed oblong court, specially constructed for the purpose, and (in the developed form of the game) having an enclosed corridor on one of the long sides roofed over by a penthouse.
The game had originally a much simpler form, the ball being struck with the palm of the hand (hence F. la paume). It was also played in the open air, as still in some places in France, and down to about 1800 in England under the name field-tennis, of which lawn-tennis (sense 2) may be considered a greatly modified revival.
c. 1400. Gower, In Praise of Peace, 295. Of the Tenetz [ed. 1532 tennes] to winne or lese a chace, Mai no lif wite er that the bal be ronne.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 488/2. Teneys, pley, teniludus (P. manupilatus, tenisia).
1441. Court Roll Pershore, Worc. (Westminster Ch. Munim.). Nullus eorum … frequentabit ludum qui vocatur the tenyse playng in communi via domini Regis nec in aliquo loco privato ibidem.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 736. I bryng the bot a balle: Haue and play the with alle, And go to the tenys [rhyme pennys].
1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 221. Pleyynd at the tennys.
a. 1470. Tiptoft, Tulle on Friendsh. (Caxton, 1481), C iv. Lyke corage & disposicion to pleyeng atte tenyce.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxvi. 74. Gascone and his brother yuan fell out toguyder, playeng at tennes.
1535. Act 27 Hen. VIII., c. 25 § 8. Any open … place for commen bowling, dysyng, carding, closhe, tenys, or other unlawfull games.
1540. Morysine, Vives’ Introd. Wysd., C j b. Oft tymes he commeth vp a pase, that can playe well at tennysse.
1550. Crowley, Last Trumpet, 562. To play tenise, or tosse the ball.
1565–73. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Bonus, Good at tennice.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 190. Pythus was the first plaier at tennise.
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. i. 58–9.
| There was he gaming, there o’ertook in’s rouse, | |
| There falling out at tennis. |
1617. Minsheu, Ductor, Tennis play … aut à tenez Gal: i. hould, which word the Frenchmen, the onely tennis players, vse to speake when they strike the ball, at tennis.
1634. Rowley, Noble Souldier, II. ii. I ha been at Tennis, Madam, with the King, I gave him 15 and all his faults.
1679. C. Hatton, in H. Corr. (Camden), 189. Last Wednesday his Matyy play’d at tenis.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 26. He invited them to … play a great match at tennis.
1793. Sporting Mag., 29 Sept., 371. Field-tennis threatens ere long to bowl out cricket.
1865. Merivale, Rom. Emp., VIII. lxiv. 116. Then he uses strong exercise for a considerable space at tennis.
1878. Julian Marshall (title), The Annals of Tennis.
fig. 1611. Tourneur, Ath. Trag., II. iv. Drop out Mine eye-bals and let enuious Fortune pla At tennis with ’em.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 463. In the Tennis of Fortune.
1899. S. K. Hocking, in Daily News, 2 Sept., 6/3. He had a decided objection to ‘playing tennis with the seventh commandment.’
2. Short for LAWN-TENNIS (q.v.), a game played with a ball and rackets on an unenclosed rectangular space on a smooth grass lawn or a floor of hard gravel, cement, asphalt, etc., called a court.
Introduced about 1874 (see LAWN-TENNIS); reduced to its present form in 1877.
1888. St. James’ Gaz., Aug. It is melancholy to see a word which has held its own for centuries gradually losing its connotation. Such a word is ‘tennis,’ by which nine persons out of ten to-day would understand the game of recent invention played on an unconfined court.
1895. Scully, Kafir Stories, 80. The tennis-ground was overgrown with grass—his predecessor’s family evidently had not cared about tennis.
3. attrib. and Comb. a. Of, belonging to, or used in playing tennis (sense 1), as tennis coat, tennis game; see also TENNIS-BALL, -PLAY, etc.
1516. Harl. MS., 2284 lf. 21. Blew velwete for a *Tenes Cote for the king.
1552. Huloet, *Tennyse game, or playinge at tennyse, sphæromachia.
b. Of, pertaining to, used or worn in lawn-tennis, as tennis-bag, -game, -ground, -hat, -jacket, -lawn, -racket, -suit; tennis-arm, -elbow, -knee, an arm, elbow, or knee sprained in playing lawn-tennis; tennis-ground, a piece of ground laid or marked out for the game of lawn-tennis; a lawn-tennis court or set of courts. See also TENNIS-BALL, -COURT, -PLAYER.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 466/1. Each with a flannel *tennis-bag in her hand.
1908. R. W. Chambers, Younger Set, viii. Eileen … strolled houseward across the lawn, switching the shaven sod with her *tennis bat.
1883. Pall Mall G., 30 May, 3/1. If *tennis elbow becomes anything like as usual an ailment as tennis playing is an accomplishment.
1891. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Lumley, v. He was sitting on the garden seat near the *tennis-ground.
1890. Army & Navy Stores Catal., March, 1180. *Tennis Hats various colours from 1/0.
1888. Barrie, When a Man’s Single, xiv. A man in a *tennis jacket, carrying a pail.
1901. Brit. Med. Jrnl., No. 2097. 562. The country doctor called it a *‘tennis-knee,’ which might mean anything.
1899. E. J. Chapman, Drama Two Lives, 13. The *tennis-lawns and pathways all Are bright with beauty.
1892. F. M. Crawford, Three Fates, II. iv. 95. Her first *tennis-racquet, now battered and half-unstrung.
1897. Anne Page, Afternoon Ride, 7. A … girl with a tennis-racket in her hand.
1908. R. W. Chambers, Younger Set, viii. Yes, I’ve plenty of *tennis-shoes. Help yourself.
1897. Mrs. Rayner, Type-writer Girl, i. A baronet in a *tennis suit.
Hence Tennisdom, the world or realm of tennis- (or lawn-tennis) players; Tennisy a., colloq. addicted to lawn-tennis.
1890. Blackw. Mag., Feb., 256/2. As with horsy women,… tennis-y girls … become intolerable nuisances to their neighbours.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 464/2. The reputation of the Bentley brothers had gone forth into tennisdom with a very high brand on it.
[Note. The introduction of some form of tennis into Florence by the French knights in 1325, and the use of the name tenes, appear not to be recorded elsewhere than in Velluti’s Cronica, nor does either game or name appear to have been long retained; the name was manifestly foreign, and opposed to Italian word-formation. But its use in Florence at least 30 and perhaps 70 years before the earliest known English example, implies either that the Eng. name came from Italy, or that both had a common source. The latter is the more likely; it was French knights who introduced the game at Florence, and the Eng. tene·tz, teney·s, with their final stress, imply French origin. The difficulty is that the game has app. never borne any such name in Fr., where, from 1350 or earlier, it has been called la paulme, la paume. The only Fr. word akin in form is tenez (AF. tenetz), 2 pers. pl. pres. indic. and imper. of tenir ‘to hold,’ also ‘to take, receive what is offered.’ Hence the suggestion made by Minsheu 1617, and favored by Skeat, Jusserand, and others, that the name originated in the Fr. imperative tenez ‘take, receive,’ called by the server to his opponent. There is of course the difficulty that no mention of this call has yet been found in French, where it must have been used if thence taken into It. and Eng. But in the Colloquies of Cordier and Erasmus, the server’s call is latinized as accipe and excipe, and in the Carmen de ludo pilæ reticulo of R. Fressart, Paris, 1641, ‘excipe,’ ‘pilam excipe,’ ‘mitto pilam in tectum, excipe,’ with other uses of excipere and accipere, occur eight times in the portion printed by Julian Marshall, Annals of Tennis, 27–29. These Latin words witness to the use of tenez or some equivalent call in French, and favor the conclusion that this call gave rise to the 14th c. It. and Eng. name.]
