Origin and history of tillage

early 13c., "cultivate (land), bestow labor and effort on to raise crops;" late 14c., "to plow;" from Old English tilian "cultivate, tend;" more broadly "work at, get by labor," originally "strive after, make an effort, exert oneself to get, aim at, aspire to," related to till "fixed point, goal," and til "good, useful, suitable," from Proto-Germanic *tilojan (source also of Old Frisian tilia "to get, cultivate," Old Saxon tilian "to obtain," Middle Dutch, Dutch telen "to breed, raise, cultivate, cause," Old High German zilon "to strive," German zielen "to aim, strive"), from source of till (prep.).

Figurative use from late 14c. For sense development, compare expressions such as work the land "cultivate crops," Old Norse yrkja "work," but especially "cultivate" (and also "to make verses"); Old Church Slavonic delati "work," also "cultivate." Related: Tilled; tilling.

"labor, work" (especially in agriculture), Old English tilþ "labor, husbandry," which is formed from tilian "cultivate (land), get by labor" (see till (v.)) + -th (2). From late 14c. as "land under cultivation," as distinguished from pasture, forest, etc.; by late 15c. as "condition of being under cultivation."

word-forming element in nouns of act, process, function, condition, from Old French and French -age, from Late Latin -aticum "belonging to, related to," originally neuter adjectival suffix, from PIE *-at- (source of Latin -atus, past participle suffix of verbs of the first conjugation) + *-(i)ko-, secondary suffix forming adjectives (see -ic).