give

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɪv/^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English given, earlier yiven, yeven,^[3][4] inherited from Old English giefan (“to give, bestow; grant; entrust”) (West Saxon), gefan, a strong verb (past tense geaf, past participle giefen),^[4][5] from Proto-Germanic *geban.^[4] Its cognates include Dutch geven, German geben and Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban).^[4][3][6] The hard g of modern give is due to Scandinavian forms such as Old Norse gefa, first seen in northern texts about 1200;^[7][4][8] Merriam-Webster therefore treats the Middle English verb as of Scandinavian origin.^[9][10] Etymonline and Watkins trace the root to Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”), also suggested by a comparison with Latin habēre (“to have, hold”),^[4][11][10] but Hoad and the Shorter Oxford find no certain Indo-European cognates.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give, bestow, deliver to another; to grant, entrust (Old English giefan, about 725, in Beowulf).^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

The forms with initial y- gave way to g- in the course of Middle English, spreading from the north.^[7][8] Give up, to surrender or quit, is from the mid-12th century, and give out meant “to publish, announce” in the mid-14th century and “to run out, break down” from the 1520s.^[4] To not give something trivial, at first a straw, a grass or a mite, dates from about 1300.^[4] The physical sense “to yield to pressure” is from the 1570s, and give in, to yield, from the 1610s.^[4] Weekley explains give you joy as short for “God give you joy”, and derives give and take from horse racing, where weights depended on the size of the horses.^[12] The noun meaning “capacity to yield, springiness” dates from 1868;^[4][9] Middle English had a different noun yeve, a gift or tribute.^[4] What gives?, “what is happening?”, is attested from 1940,^[4] and Green's Dictionary suggests it imitates the Yiddish greeting vi geht's?.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English giefan, in Beowulf.^[7]
• mid-12th century – give up.^[4]
• c. 1200 – gifen with hard g, in the Ormulum.^[7]
• c. 1300 – not give a straw.^[4]
• mid-14th century – give out, to announce.^[4]
• 1570s – to yield to pressure.^[4]
• 1610s – give in.^[4]
• 1868 – noun, capacity to yield.^[4][9]
• 1940 – what gives?.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make a present of; to transfer freely to another.
2. To hand over; to put into someone's keeping or care: give me the scissors.
3. To pay in exchange: gave five dollars for the book.
4. To grant or bestow; to accord: gave him her confidence.
5. To impart or communicate: give advice.
6. To cause someone to have or experience: gave me a fright.
7. To perform or deliver: give a speech.
8. To provide as host: give a party.
9. To yield as a product or result.
10. (law) To transfer property by gift or will.
11. To yield or collapse under pressure.
12. To open onto or lead into: the door gives onto the garden.

Noun

1. Capacity to yield under pressure; elasticity or resilience.

Word family

• givable
• givee
• giver

Related words

• gift
• forgive
• habit

Usage notes

Black's Law Dictionary notes that the formula give, devise, and bequeath has long been criticized as redundant, and that give alone normally suffices.^[14] Random House distinguishes give, the general word, from confer, used of an honour or favour, grant, limited to giving what has been asked for, and present, a formal giving.^[15]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
15. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House