forgive

Where does the word "forgive" come from? It comes from Old English forgiefan, and was adopted directly into English (1500s).

Forgive’s story begins in Old English: forgiefan meant “to give up, pardon.” Built from 'for-', completely, and 'giefan', to give, as a part-for-part translation of Latin 'perdōnāre', the source of 'pardon'. It reached English by 1500s as forgive. German 'vergeben' was formed the same way. Today, forgive means to stop feeling angry at someone for an offence.

1. Stage 1 · Old English · 700s-1000s forgiefan "to give up, pardon", built from 'for-', completely, and 'giefan', to give, as a part-for-part translation of Latin 'perdōnāre', the source of 'pardon'.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1500s forgive "to pardon", German 'vergeben' was formed the same way.