give

Where does the word "give" come from? It comes from Old Norse gefa, passing through Middle English before entering English (1500s).

Give’s story begins in Old Norse: gefa meant “to give.” The Norse hard-g form of a verb shared across Germanic languages. By 1300s, the word had taken hold in Middle English as given. The Norse pronunciation replaced native Old English 'giefan', which was pronounced 'yeevan' and gave dialect 'yive'. It reached English by 1500s as give. The hard-g northern form became standard English. Today, give means to freely hand something over to someone.

1. Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval gefa "to give", the Norse hard-g form of a verb shared across Germanic languages.
2. Stage 2 · Middle English · 1300s given "to give", the Norse pronunciation replaced native Old English 'giefan', which was pronounced 'yeevan' and gave dialect 'yive'.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1500s give "to hand over freely", the hard-g northern form became standard English.