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==Etymology and history== [[File:Waiters.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Waiters in [[Wrocław|Breslau]], Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), in 1913]] According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the word "tip" originated as a slang term and its etymology is unclear. According to the ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]'', the meaning "give a small present of money" began around 1600, and the meaning "give a gratuity to" is first attested in 1706.<ref name="etymonline.com">{{cite web |url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tip&allowed_in_frame=0 |title = tip |last = Douglas |first = Harper |website = Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date = 11 November 2013 }}</ref><ref name="todayifoundout.com">{{cite web |url = https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/09/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-tip-as-in-leaving-a-tip/ |title = What is the origin of the word tip |last = Daven |first = Hiskey |website = Today I Found Out |date = 14 September 2012 |access-date = 31 December 2022 }}</ref> The noun in this sense is from 1755. The term in the sense of "to give a gratuity" first appeared in the 18th century. It derived from an earlier sense of ''tip'', meaning "to give; to hand, pass", which originated in the [[thieves' cant]] in the 17th century. This sense may have derived from the 16th-century "tip" meaning "to strike or hit smartly but lightly" (which may have derived from the [[Low German]] ''tippen'', "to tap"), but this derivation is "very uncertain".<ref name="oed2">"tip, ''v''.<sup>4</sup>" ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. 2nd ed. 1989. [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-19-861186-2}}.</ref> The word "tip" was first used as a verb in 1707 in [[George Farquhar]]'s play ''[[The Beaux' Stratagem]]''. Farquhar used the term after it had been "used in [[criminal]] circles as a word meant to imply the unnecessary and gratuitous gifting of something somewhat taboo, like a joke, or a [[sure bet]], or illicit money exchanges."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/10/the-case-against-tipping/63913/|title=The Case Against Tipping|work=[[The Atlantic]]|last=Hendel|first=John|date=October 1, 2010|access-date=July 21, 2017}}</ref> The etymology for the synonym for tipping, "gratuity", dates back either to the 1520s, from "graciousness", from the French ''gratuité'' (14th century) or directly from Medieval Latin ''gratuitas'', "free gift", probably from earlier Latin ''gratuitus'', "free, freely given". The meaning "money given for favor or services" is first attested in the 1530s.<ref name="etymonline.com" /> In some languages, the term translates to "drink money" or similar: for example ''pourboire'' in French, ''Trinkgeld'' in German, ''drikkepenge'' in Danish, ''[[drinksilver]]'' in [[Middle Scots]], and ''napiwek'' in Polish. This comes from a custom of inviting a servant to drink a glass in honour of the guest, and paying for it, in order for the guests to show generosity among each other. The term ''bibalia'' in Latin was recorded in 1372.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Neuwirth|first=Joseph|title=Die Wochenrechnungen und der Betrieb des Prager Dombaues 1372–1378|publisher=O. Beyer|year=1890|location=Prague|page=44|language=de|oclc=458860548}}</ref> The practice of tipping began in [[Tudor England]].<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12tipping-t.html |title=Why Tip?|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Wachter|first=Paul|date=October 9, 2008|access-date=July 21, 2017}}</ref> In medieval times, tipping was a master-serf custom wherein a servant would receive extra money for having performed superbly well.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title='It's the Legacy of Slavery': Here's the Troubling History Behind Tipping Practices in the U.S.|url=https://time.com/5404475/history-tipping-american-restaurants-civil-war/|access-date=2021-11-21|magazine=Time|language=en}}</ref> By the 17th century, it was expected that overnight guests to private homes would provide sums of money, known as vails, to the host's servants. Soon afterwards, customers began tipping in London [[coffee house|coffeehouses]] and other commercial establishments".<ref name="nytimes.com" /> The practice was imported from Europe to America in the 1850s and 1860s by Americans who wanted to seem aristocratic.<ref>{{Cite news|title=I dare you to read this and still feel good about tipping|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/i-dare-you-to-read-this-and-still-feel-ok-about-tipping-in-the-united-states/|access-date=2021-11-21|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> However, until the early 20th century, Americans viewed tipping as inconsistent with the values of an egalitarian, democratic society, as the origins of tipping were premised upon [[noblesse oblige]], which promoted tipping as a means to establish social status to inferiors.<ref name="Segrave1998">{{cite book|last1=Segrave|first1=Kerry|title=Tipping: An American social history of gratuities|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=1998|isbn=0786403470|location=Jefferson, North Carolina}}</ref> Six American states passed laws that made tipping illegal. Enforcement of anti-tipping laws was problematic.<ref name="Segrave1998" /> The earliest of these laws was passed in 1909 (Washington), and the last of these laws was repealed in 1926 (Mississippi).<ref name="Segrave1998" /> Some have argued that "The original workers that were not paid anything by their employers were newly freed slaves" and that "This whole concept of not paying them anything and letting them live on tips carried over from slavery."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Shanker|first1=Deena|date=9 February 2016|title=How American tipping grew out of racism|work=[[Quartz (publication)]]|url=http://qz.com/609293/how-american-tipping-grew-out-of-racism/|access-date=9 February 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite podcast|url=http://www.sporkful.com/the-restaurateur-who-got-rid-of-tipping/|title=The Restaurateur Who Got Rid Of Tipping|website=The Sporkful|publisher=WNYC|host=Dan Pashman|date=2 January 2017|time=5:04|access-date=13 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title='It's the Legacy of Slavery': Here's the Troubling History Behind Tipping Practices in the U.S.|url=https://time.com/5404475/history-tipping-american-restaurants-civil-war/|access-date=2020-11-14|magazine=Time}}</ref> The anti-tipping movement spread to Europe with the support of the labour movement, which led to the eventual abolition of customary tipping in most European countries. Also, proprietors regarded tips as equivalent to bribing an employee to do something that was otherwise forbidden, such as tipping a waiter to get an extra large portion of food.<ref name="Segrave1998" /> However, the introduction of [[Prohibition]] in the US in 1919 had an enormous impact on hotels and restaurants, who lost the revenue of selling alcoholic beverages. The resulting financial pressure caused proprietors to welcome tips, as a way of supplementing employee wages.<ref name="Mentzer2013">{{cite journal|last=Mentzer|first=Marc S.|date=September 2013|title=The payment of gratuities by customers in the United States: An historical analysis|url=https://harvest.usask.ca/handle/10388/14275 |journal=International Journal of Management<!--This is NOT the predatory https://www.theijm.com/ -->|volume=30|issue=3|pages=108–120|issn=0813-0183}}</ref> Contrary to popular belief, tipping did not arise because of servers' low wages, because the occupation of waiter (server) was fairly well paid in the era when tipping became institutionalized.<ref name="Mentzer2013" />
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