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You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “Tandem” come from and What does Tandem mean in Latin?

Where does the word “Tandem” come from and What does Tandem mean in Latin?

February 21, 2020 by Karen Hill

The Latin word tandem means “at length (with respect to time),” that is, “for a long time.”

Back in the eighteenth century, when the study of Latin was a normal part of English university curricula, some student noticed a carriage harnessed to two horses, one before the other, and, being somewhat of a wag, he coined a pun on the word by applying it, in the sense of “at length (with respect to distance),” to a team so harnessed.

The pun caught popular fancy, so that it has lived long after most people realize that it is a pun, and the sense has become broadened to include any of many things or events which may be arranged in consecutive order, one after another.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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