Origin and history of tenancy

early 14c. (early 13c. as a surname), tenaunt, in law, "person who holds lands by title or by lease," from Anglo-French tenaunt (late 13c.), Old French tenant "possessor; feudal tenant" (12c.), noun use of present participle of tenir "to hold," from Latin tenere "hold, keep, grasp" (see tenet).

The general sense of "one who holds property by lease from a landlord" is by late 14c. Tenant-farmer, one who cultivates land as a tenant, is attested from 1748.

abstract noun suffix of quality or rank, from Latin -cia, -tia, from Greek -kia, -tia, from abstract ending -ia (see -ia) + stem ending -c- or -t-. The native correspondents are -ship, -hood.