An archaic or dialectal term meaning to attach, fasten, or seize; to put a lien or legal claim on property or a person.
From Old French 'en-' (in, on) + 'tache' (a fastening, seizure). The word is related to 'attach' and comes ultimately from Germanic roots meaning to fasten or seize. It developed in Middle English as a legal term.
This word shows how English borrowed heavily from French legal terminology after 1066—'entach' is essentially a legal cousin of 'attach,' and both words preserved the formal, slightly threatening tone of the courthouse where they originated.
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