breath

Pronunciation

• IPA: /breθ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English breth, inherited from Old English brǣþ (“odour, scent, exhalation, vapour”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *brēþaz (“smell, exhalation”),^[2][4] also the source of Old High German brādam “breath, steam” and German Brodem “steam”.^[2][3] Barnhart and Hoad derive it from Proto-Indo-European *bhrē- (“to burn, heat”), the root of Old English brǣdan “to roast” and of brood,^[3][4][5] while Watkins suggests a root *gwhre- “to breathe, smell”.^[2] The Old English word for air from the lungs was æþm.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Odour, smell or scent: about 893 in the OED,^[6] before 900 in Barnhart, in Alfred's Orosius, of an exhalation from something cooking or burning.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Vapour or steam given off by heated things is from before 1300.^[6] The duration of a breath, a moment, is from the early 13th century,^[2] and the ability to breathe, hence life, from about 1300.^[2] The air taken into and out of the lungs is from about 1340,^[6] and a gentle blowing, a breath of wind, from about 1325.^[6] A single act of breathing is from the late 15th century.^[2] The original long vowel, kept in the verb breathe, was shortened in the noun probably as late as the 1600s, as in sheath and sheathe.^[3][2] In some dialects breath still means a smell, especially an unpleasant one.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 893 – odour, smell.^[6]
• a. 1200 – the form breath.^[3]
• early 13th century – a moment.^[2]
• c. 1300 – life.^[2]
• c. 1340 – air breathed in and out.^[6]
• late 15th century – a single breath.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The air taken into and let out of the lungs.
2. The act of breathing, or a single respiration.
3. The ability to breathe easily: out of breath.
4. A slight movement of air: a breath of wind.
5. A slight sign or hint: a breath of scandal.
6. Life or spirit.

Word family

• breather
• breathless
• breathtaking
• breathy
• breathalyzer
• interbreath
• baby's breath
• breath test

Related words

• breathe
• brood
• breed

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)