tenement

Tenement comes from Middle English tenement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman tenement, meaning 'holding.' That in turn traces back through Old French tenement to Medieval Latin tenimentum, rooted in Latin teneō, 'to hold.'

The word began as a general term for a piece of property held by someone, tied to the idea of holding or possessing land. Over time its meaning narrowed toward the buildings themselves, especially crowded rented housing.

It shares its root with other English words built on Latin teneō, 'to hold,' though the facts here don't name a specific cognate to point to.