Editing Tribe (section)

== Etymology ==
The modern English word ''tribe'' stems from Middle English ''{{Lang|enm|tribu}}'', which ultimately derives from Latin ''{{Lang|la|tribus}}''. According to the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], it remains unclear if this form is the result of a borrowing from a Romance language source (such as [[Old French]] ''{{Lang|fro|tribu}}'') or if the form is a result of borrowing directly from [[Latin]] (the Middle English plural ''{{Lang|enm|tribuz}}'' 1250 may be a direct representation of Latin plural {{Lang|la|tribūs}}). Modern English ''tribe'' may also be a result of a common pattern wherein English borrows nouns directly from Latin and drops suffixes, including ''-us''. Latin ''{{Lang|la|tribus}}'' is held to derive from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] *''tri-dʰh₁u/o-'' ('rendered in three, tripartite division'; compare with [[Umbrian language|Umbrian]] ''trifu'' 'trinity, district', [[Sanskrit]] ''trídha'' 'threefold').<ref>{{Cite book|last=de Vaan|first=Michiel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecZ1DwAAQBAJ|title=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages|date=2008|isbn=978-90-04-16797-1|pages=629|publisher=Leiden · Boston |language=en|author-link=Michiel de Vaan}}</ref>