Etymology: < Middle French pertinence, pertenance, pertinance (14th cent.: see below), variants (after post-classical Latin pertinentia ) of Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French partenance (also in Anglo-Norman as partenaunce , in Old French as partinance , in Old French and Middle French (southern) as partenance ) appurtenance, belonging (13th cent. in Old French; usually in plural) < partener , partenir , etc., pertain v. + -ance , -aunce -ance suffix; the English word was probably also influenced directly by post-classical Latin pertinentia (feminine) appurtenance to an estate (9th cent.; from 11th cent. in British sources). Compare Old Occitan pertenensa (1198 or earlier; Occitan pertinéncia ), Catalan pertinència (1274 or earlier; also as pertinença ), Spanish pertinencia (1240 or earlier; earlier as †pertenencia (1129 or earlier), †pertinença (1222 or earlier)), Italian pertinenza (a1294 in this sense in plural pertinenze ), Portuguese pertença (15th cent.; earlier as †perteenças (1257, plural)), all in sense 1. Compare appurtenance n., and purtenance n. Compare also slightly later pertinent n., and also pertinency n.²Some Older Scots forms may represent instances of pertinent n.; the letters c and t are often difficult to distinguish in manuscripts. N.E.D. (1905) gives the pronunciation as (pə̄·ɹtinĕns) /ˈpɜːtɪnəns/.

Etymology: < Middle French, French pertinence quality of being pertinent (1580 in Montaigne in this sense; earlier in Old French in sense ‘presumption’ (beginning of the 14th cent.)) and its etymon post-classical Latin pertinentia quality of being pertinent, pertinent fact, detail (6th cent.) relevance, coherence (14th cent. in British sources) < classical Latin pertinent- , pertinēns pertinent adj. + -ia -ia suffix¹. Compare earlier pertinency n.¹