tontine.txt

tontine | ˈtäntēn |
noun
an annuity shared by subscribers to a loan or common fund, the shares increasing as subscribers die until the last survivor enjoys the whole income.
• a scheme for life insurance in which the beneficiaries are those who survive and maintain a policy to the end of a given period.
ORIGIN
mid 18th century: from French, named after Lorenzo Tonti (1630–95), a Neapolitan banker who started such a scheme to raise government loans in France (c.1653).