The verb 'till' originates from the Old English tilian, meaning "to strive for, work at, cultivate." This sense of laboring upon the land is deeply rooted in its Proto-Germanic ancestor \tilōną, which carried meanings of aim and purpose. The semantic journey narrowed from a general concept of effort and intention to the specific, concrete agricultural activity of preparing soil, a shift that occurred within the early Germanic languages. The modern form 'tilled' simply applies the regular Germanic-derived '-ed' suffix to mark its past action, preserving the ancient link between work and cultivation.

The word 'tilled' is the past tense/past participle form of the verb 'till'. The base 'till' is a simplex word of Old English origin. The suffix '-ed' is a productive English inflectional suffix of Germanic origin, used to form the past tense and past participle of regular verbs.