Originally Posted By: goofy
It's been a verb since 1599:
NASHE Lenten Stuffe (1871) 15 A chronographical Latin table..in a fair text hand, texting unto us, how, in the sceptredom of Edward the Confessor, the sands first began to grow into sight at low water.
SHAKES. Much Ado V. i. 185 Yea and text vnder-neath, heere dwells Benedicke the married man.
DEKKER Wh. of Babylon Wks. 1873 II. 265 Vowes haue I writ so deepe,..So texted them in characters capitall, I cannot race them.

If this etymology is correct, then eta's suggestion gains currency - it would seem as though the original verb is tex (or tech?) and text is just another way of spelling texed ("yea and text underneath" = texed underneath). So maybe we should change the verb to tex, past participle texed (or texd or text).
I tex. I will tex. I have text.

Last edited by The Pook; 12/24/2008 1:27 AM.