> But in fact 'rent' means to tear, split, rip, etc, and that's exactly what it is. No it doesn't. 'Rent' in this context derives through french from a latin v

> But in fact 'rent' means to tear, split, rip, etc, and that's exactly what it is. No it doesn't. 'Rent' in this context derives through french from a latin verb that means "to give back". Your confusion comes from the fact that 'rent' can also be the past tense of 'rend' which has a different origin and comes from old english and germanic roots rather than French and latin.