Etymologically
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edge

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English egge,[2][3] inherited from Old English ecg (“corner, edge, point; sword”),[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *agjō,[4][5] which is also the source of Old Frisian egg “edge”, Old Saxon eggia “point, edge”, Dutch eg, Old High German ecka (German Ecke “corner”) and Old Norse egg,[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *ak- (“to be sharp, rise to a point, pierce”).[4][2][5] Its relatives outside Germanic include Latin acus “needle” and aciēs “sharp edge”, and Greek akḗ “point”.[2][3] The change of spelling from Old English -cg through Middle English -gg to modern -dge reflects a widespread shift in pronunciation.[4] It is related to acid and to the verb egg “to urge on”.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cutting side of a blade: about 725 in Beowulf,[2] and in the OED from about 1000.[7] In Old English poetry it also meant a sword, as in ecgplega “edge play” for battle.[4]

Semantic evolution

The boundary of a surface is from the 14th century,[5] after the sharp side of a blade.[5] Power to cut or wound, figuratively keen effectiveness, is from before 1593,[7] and of persons, ardour or keenness, from 1581.[7] Teeth on edge is from the late 14th century, on edge “excited or irritable” from 1872,[4] and to get the edge on someone, an advantage, is American colloquial from 1911.[4] The verb, to give an edge to, is from the late 13th century;[4][7] to move edgeways or advance slowly is from the 1620s, originally nautical,[4] first recorded by Barnhart in Captain John Smith's Generall Historie of Virginia (1624).[2] To defeat by a narrow margin is from 1953.[4] The 16th-century sense “to urge on, incite” is often a mistake for egg.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – cutting edge, in Beowulf.[2]
  • 1297 – verb, to sharpen.[7]
  • 14th century – boundary of a surface.[5]
  • late 14th century – teeth on edge.[4]
  • 1581 – keenness.[7]
  • 1620s – to advance slowly.[4]
  • 1872 – on edge.[4]
  • 1911 – an advantage.[4]
  • 1953 – to defeat narrowly.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The thin sharpened side of a blade.
  2. Sharpness; a penetrating or incisive quality.
  3. The line where a surface ends; a border or margin.
  4. The point just before something begins: on the edge of disaster.
  5. An advantage: a competitive edge.

Verb

  1. To sharpen.
  2. To give a border to.
  3. To move or push slowly and gradually.
  4. To defeat by a small margin.

Word family

  • edgeless
  • edger
  • edgeways
  • edgewise
  • edging
  • edgy
  • hard-edge

Usage notes

In Sussex dialect the word also had the form etch,[8] and in the north of England, Lincolnshire and Dorset another verb edge meant “to harrow”.[8]

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 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 k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b 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)