territoryterritory

Territory comes from Middle English territorie, from Latin territōrium, from terra ‘dry land’ + -tōrium, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ters- ‘dry’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ters-¹‘dry’reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ters-eh₂²‘dry land’reconstructed
3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tersā²‘earth’reconstructed
4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterra³‘dry land’
5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterritōrium²‘territory’
6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500territorie²
7. Englishearliest quotation 1711territory²

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Latin terra
2. ² Wiktionary, English territory
3. ³ Wiktionary, Latin territorium
4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1711, The Love of Glory: “Lewis of France had his infancy attended by crafty…”.