2. _The term rent is used in a number of senses, which must be carefully distinguished._ The original meaning of rent was any regular income or revenue arising from wealth. The word comes from the low Latin _renta_ from _renda_, in turn from _redditus_, that which is given, yielded or given back, or _rendita_, that which is given or returned. The French _rendre_ (English render), to give or return that which belongs to one, is used very early. Chaucer used "rente" as an income. "Cattle had he enough and rente," cattle probably meaning property (chattels), and rente income. Rental is a collective term for a number of rents. The total yield of an estate was called its rental or rent-roll, and a list of the various sources of income, including all payments from tenants in money, produce or services, constituted its rental. [Sidenote: Popular and special meaning of rent] 3. _The popular meaning of rent is the amount paid for the use of material things which must be returned to the owners after the time of use agreed upon._ We speak of the rent of a house, boat, etc., using the word as a synonym for hire. In the European languages the word is used more frequently in that sense. In the French _la rente_ means the income from any kind of property; but corporate securities and national bonds came particularly to be called _les rentes_, because they are a form of investment yielding a permanent income. The one who has a perpetual income from bonds or rents is called a _rentier_. In German the term _Rente_ is used more broadly than in English, as an income of any sort, _Grundrente_ meaning the rent of land, and _Capitalrente_ the income usually in England called interest. A restricted meaning has long been applied by economists to the word: the income yielded by lands, etc. This was put in contrast with interest for money and capital, and with wages of labor. This meaning is now being abandoned by economic students. A wider meaning recently given to the word by many economists turns on the supposed relation of some portions of price to cost of production. Thus, frequent use is made of the expressions: consumer's rent, producer's rent, buyer's rent, seller's rent, etc. In the well-founded opinion of some recent critics this usage rests on a mistaken reasoning. However, in the midst of this wide variety of usage the student must be forewarned and alert. Doubtless agreement will at length be arrived at. Meantime, no economist can dictate what meaning is to be attached to the term, but one may suggest the definition that seems to him most expedient. Throughout this work we shall endeavor to use the term rent uniformly and consistently as it is now to be defined. [Sidenote: The essence of rent]