bend

The verb bend and the old noun bend, a band, both go back to the Germanic root of bind; the noun survives in heraldry and in sailors' knots.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɛnd/^[4]

bend¹ curve

Etymology

It is Middle English benden, inherited from Old English bendan (“to bend a bow, bring into a curve; confine with a string”),^[1][5][6] a causative of bindan, to bind,^[1][6] from Proto-Germanic *bandjanan,^[6][2] source also of Old Norse benda (“to join, strain, bend”),^[1][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bhendh- (“to bind”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

To tighten or bend a bow: Old English, about 1000 in Barnhart.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that bendan meant to put in bonds or to make a bow taut by means of a string, which led to its association with the curved shape of the bow.^[7] To curve or make crooked is from the early 14th century,^[1] the intransitive, to become curved, from the late 14th century, and to turn aside from a straight line from the 1510s.^[1] Figuratively, to bow or submit, it is from about 1400.^[1] The noun, the act of drawing a bow, is from the mid-15th century (about 1434 in Barnhart),^[1][6] a bending or curve from the 1590s, and a bent part from about 1600.^[1] The bends, decompression sickness, is attested from 1894.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – bendan, to tighten a bow.^[6]
• early 14th century – to make curved.^[1]
• c. 1400 – to submit.^[1]
• c. 1434 – the noun.^[6]
• 1590s – a curve.^[1]
• 1894 – the bends.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make or become curved or angular.
2. To turn from a straight line or a particular direction.
3. To lean the body forward; to stoop.
4. To force to give way; to subdue, or to yield.
5. To apply oneself closely to something.

Noun

1. A curve or turn, as in a road or river.
2. (the bends) Decompression sickness.

Word family

• bendable
• bended
• bender
• bendy

bend² band

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English bend (“bond, fetter, band, ribbon”),^[1][2][3] from Proto-Germanic *bandjō, from the base of bind,^[2] later coinciding with Old French bende (modern bande), which is from Germanic.^[1][2][5] Its other senses passed to band.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Anything with which the body or limbs are bound, a fetter: about 890.^[8]

Semantic evolution

A ribbon or strap, as part of dress, is from about 1000.^[8] In heraldry, the broad diagonal band on a shield is from the mid-14th century in Etymonline and the 15th century in Hoad;^[1][2] it normally runs from the upper right to the lower left, and the bend sinister along the other diagonal.^[1] A knot uniting one rope to another or to an object is nautical from 1769.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 890 – a bond, fetter.^[8]
• c. 1000 – a ribbon or strap.^[8]
• mid-14th century – in heraldry.^[1]
• 1769 – a knot.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (heraldry) A band running diagonally from the upper dexter corner of a shield to the lower sinister corner.
2. (nautical) A knot that joins a rope to another rope or object.

Word family

• bend sinister

Related words

• bent
• bind
• band
• bond
• bundle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press