Etymologically
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deliver

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /dɪˈlɪv.ə/, US /dɪˈlɪv.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English deliveren,[2][3] borrowed from Old French delivrer (“to set free; remove; hand over”),[2][4][5] from Late Latin dēlīberāre,[2][4][3] from dē “away” and Latin līberāre “to free”,[2][4][6] from līber “free”,[2][7] the source of liberate and liberty.[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To save, rescue, set free: about 1200 in Etymonline,[2] probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle,[4] before 1225 in the OED.[8]

Semantic evolution

To hand over or transfer is from about 1280 in Barnhart and about 1300 in Etymonline, a sense opposed to the word's original meaning.[4][2] To bring a woman to childbirth, that is, to unburden or set her free, is from about 1300.[4][2][8] To project, throw or strike is from about 1400 in Etymonline[2] and 1597 in Barnhart,[4] and to utter, as a speech, from the 16th century.[5] Letters and goods have been delivered since the late Middle Ages.[7] Stand and deliver was the highwayman's demand, recorded in an early 18th-century account of highwaymen,[7] and deliver the goods, to provide what was promised, is American, from political debate of the 1870s.[7] Deliverance is from about 1300[4] and delivery from 1425.[4]

Timeline

  • a. 1225 – to set free.[8]
  • c. 1280 – to hand over.[4]
  • c. 1300 – to bring to childbirth, and deliverance.[4]
  • 1425 – delivery.[4]
  • 16th century – to utter.[5]
  • 1870s – deliver the goods.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To take goods, letters or parcels to the proper person or place.
  2. To hand over or surrender; to transfer.
  3. To give or utter: deliver a speech, deliver a verdict.
  4. To help in the birth of a baby; to give birth.
  5. To set free or rescue: deliver us from evil.
  6. To throw or strike: deliver a blow.
  7. To produce what is promised or expected.

Word family

  • deliverability
  • deliverable
  • deliverer
  • deliverance
  • deliverly
  • misdeliver
  • outdeliver
  • predeliver

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press