Etymologically
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dive

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /daɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English diven, earlier dialectal duven,[2][3] inherited from Old English dūfan (“to dive, duck, sink”), an intransitive strong verb, merged with dȳfan, to dip, submerge, a weak transitive verb,[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *dūbijanan,[2] related to deep and dip,[6][5] from PIE *dʰewb-, deep, hollow.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To plunge into water: before 1000 in the OED;[7] diven about 1250 in Barnhart.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the merger the weak forms prevailed, and the strong ones were obsolete by 1300.[4][2] The past tense dove emerged in the 19th century, perhaps on the analogy of drive, drove;[4] Bartlett (1859) noted it as an Americanism common among seamen, and it was reported in Canadian English in 1857 and used by Longfellow in Hiawatha (1855).[4] To plunge into the earth or an abyss is from before 1225.[7] The noun, a headfirst plunge or sudden swoop, is from 1700.[4][3] A disreputable bar or club is American by 1871, perhaps because such places were often in basements;[4] Hoad links it to the verb's sense dart out of sight.[5] Of a submarine, to submerge, it is from 1872, and of an aircraft from 1908.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1000 – to plunge into water.[7]
  • c. 1250 – diven.[2]
  • 1700 – the noun.[4]
  • 1855 – dove, in Longfellow.[4]
  • 1871 – a low bar.[4]
  • 1908 – of aircraft.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To plunge headfirst into water.
  2. To go under water, as a submarine or a scuba diver.
  3. Of an aircraft, to descend steeply.
  4. To rush or reach quickly, as in a plunge.

Noun

  1. A plunge into water, especially headfirst.
  2. A steep descent through the air, or a sudden drop.
  3. (informal) A shabby or disreputable bar or club.

Word family

  • crash-dive
  • dive-bomb
  • divemaster
  • diver
  • nose-dive
  • postdive
  • predive
  • skin-dive

Usage notes

Collins gives dove as the American past tense beside dived.[8] In Scots an obsolete noun dive was the putrid moisture that issues from the mouth and nostrils of a dead person.[9]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ 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)