Obs. rare–1. [Generally taken as = TYKE, dog, sense 2; but perh. ad. Welsh tacog (taiog), in OWelsh taiawc villain, churl, Cornish tioc or tiac husbandman, farmer, ploughman, rustic:—OCeltic *tegācos, deriv. of *teg-os, Welsh ty a house: cf. for the sense COTTAR, med.L. cotarius, from cota; VILLEIN, med.L. villanus, from villa.] One of a class of persons subject to tallage (cf. TALLAGEABILITY, quot. 1888); a churl, villein.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIX. 37. The iuwes, þat were gentil men, ihesu þei dispised, Bothe his lore & his lawe; now ar þei lowe cherlis. As wyde as þe worlde is, wonyeth þere none But vnder tribut & taillage as tykes & cherles [1393 C. XXII. 37. tikes and cheorles].
[Note. On this word see A. L. Mayhew, in Guardian, 10 Nov., 1909. Tacog was in Welsh a technical term (Anct. Welsh Laws, 216, 266), and may have been known west of the Severn in English counties on the Welsh Border, Tike = ‘dog,’ appears later, and then only in the north.]
