'Retain' is Latin for 'hold back' — from 'tenere' (to hold). Kin to 'detain' and 'sustain.'
Definition
To continue to hold or keep in possession; to keep in one's memory; to engage the services of a professional, especially a lawyer, by paying a preliminary fee.
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Latinlate 14th centurywell-attested
From Old French 'retenir' (to hold back, to keep in one's possession, to retain in service), from Latin 'retinere' (to hold back, to keep, to restrain, to preserve), composed of 're-' (back, against — giving the sense of holding something that would otherwise escape) and 'tenere' (to hold, to grasp, to keep). 'Tenere' derives from PIE *ten- (to stretch, to extend) — the sense being that to hold something is to keep it extended or taut under tension, not letting it slip away. The same root produced an enormousLatin
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The word 'retinue' — meaning a group of attendants accompanying an important person — comes from the same root. Old French 'retenue' (from 'retenir') originally meant 'a group of people retained in one's service.' A king's retinue were literally the people he retained — held back from leaving, kept in his employ. The feudal relationship betweenlord and retainer was fundamentally about holding: the lord held the retainer's loyalty
), 'tenor' (a holding course, then the voice that holds the melody), 'tenure' (a period of holding a position), 'lieutenant' (lieu-tenant — holding the place of another), 'continent' (holding together), 'abstain' (to hold away from), and 'maintain' (to hold in the hand, to keep up). In