go

go¹ to move, travel; a turn, an attempt

Etymology

The verb meaning to move is inherited from Middle English gon, also goon and gan,^[2][3] inherited from Old English gān (“to advance, walk; depart; happen”),^[4][5][6][7] from Proto-West Germanic *gān and Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go”).^[8] Etymonline writes the West Germanic stage as *gaian.^[4] Kroonen and Orel reconstruct *gēn-, and Kroonen calls the derivation not straightforward: most of the northern and western forms point to that long vowel, while the Old English verb can only continue a stem *gai-.^[9][10] The OED likewise sees two bases that nearly merged, and leaves their relation open, as well as any link with the base of gang.^[11] It is cognate with Old Frisian gān, Old Saxon gān, Dutch gaan, Old High German gān, German gehen, Swedish gå, Danish gå and a form recorded for Crimean Gothic.^[6][11][12] Further back, the OED calls the etymology uncertain,^[11] and Etymonline finds no general agreement on the cognates.^[4] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary take it from Proto-Indo-European *ghē- (“to release, let go”),^[4][5] and Wiktionary from *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”);^[8] the usual comparisons are Ancient Greek κιχάνω (kikhánō, “to reach”) and Sanskrit जहाति (jáhāti, “leaves, abandons”).^[13][2][12] The Old English past tense was ēode, later yode, of uncertain origin and evidently once a separate verb,^[4][13] compared with the Gothic past tense for "went".^[7][4] In the 1400s it gave way to went, the past tense of wend,^[4][6][14] though Ayto puts the change at about 1500.^[13] In the north of England and in Scotland a past gaed was formed from the verb itself.^[4][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English the verb already meant to advance or walk, to depart, to happen and to conquer.^[4][7] Barnhart dates it to about 725, in Beowulf;^[6] the OED's first quotations for walking on foot and for moving or travelling in general are from early Old English translations, of Bede and of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was specifically on foot, as opposed to riding, creeping or swimming; the OED records it until 1836.^[11] Johnson (1755) still listed "to walk; to move step by step" first,^[15] and the old sense survives in go-cart, first recorded in the late 17th century as a baby walker.^[16][6] Movement by any means came to dominate, and figurative uses followed from it: to cease to exist from about 1200, to appear in a certain way from the late 14th century, to be sold from the early 15th, to pass into another state from the 1580s.^[4] Etymonline notes that the word fills 45 columns of close print in the OED.^[4] The noun comes from the verb, by Etymonline from its use in starting a race;^[4] the OED has the action of going from 1635.^[11] A throw at skittles is recorded from 1683, and the other colloquial uses from the late 18th century: a try or turn (1784), a turn of events, usually with an adjective as in a rum go (1783), the height of fashion (1784), a measure of drink (1788).^[11] Energy and dash, first said of horses, is from 1825,^[4] and the Australian sense of a fair chance from 1954.^[11] Recent uses of the verb are "to urinate or defecate", by 1926, and "to say", which arose in teen slang in the 1960s.^[4] The adjective "in good order, ready" spread from aerospace jargon.^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – gān, to go, in Beowulf.^[6]
• Old English – to walk, to move on foot (obsolete by 1836); to move or travel by any means.^[11]
• before 1200 – the Middle English forms gon, gan, to walk, to move along.^[6]
• c. 1200 – to cease to exist.^[4]
• late 14th century – to appear in a certain way, of dress.^[4]
• 1400s – went replaces yode as the past tense.^[4][6]
• early 15th century – to be sold.^[4]
• 1580s – to pass into another condition.^[4]
• 1590s – to be known (by a name).^[4]
• c. 1600 – to wager.^[4]
• 1635 – noun, the action of going.^[11][2] Etymonline and Barnhart date the noun to 1727.^[4][6]
• 1683 – noun, a throw at skittles.^[11] Etymonline has this sense from 1773.^[4]
• 1784 – noun, a try or attempt; also the go, the height of fashion.^[11]
• 1825 – noun, energy, dash.^[4]
• 1843 – on the go, in constant motion.^[4][6]
• 1926 – to urinate or defecate.^[4]
• 1951 – adjective, in good order, ready.^[4][6] The OED's first quotation for this sense is from 1961, and Merriam-Webster gives 1910.^[11][2]
• 1960s – to say, in teen slang.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move or travel from one place to another: We went to Lisbon by train.^{[17][18][2][19]}
2. To leave; to depart: The ferry goes at nine.^[17][18][19]
3. To lead or extend in a certain direction: This lane goes down to the harbour.^[17][18][19]
4. To function or work: The old clock still goes.^[17][18][19]
5. To become, especially something undesirable: The milk went sour.^[17][18][19]
6. To be or continue in a certain condition: The children went hungry that winter.^[17][18]
7. To turn out; to fare: The interview went well.^[17][19]
8. To be sold or passed to someone: The painting went for a small fortune.^[17][18][4]
9. To have a usual place, or to fit there: The spoons go in the top drawer.^[17][18][19]
10. To suit or match: Those shoes don't go with that coat.^[17][19]
11. Of time, to pass; of a thing, to come to an end or be used up.^[18][19]
12. To fail or give way: The brakes went on the hill.^[17][18]
13. be going to: used to express the future or an intention: She is going to study law.^[18][19][20]
14. go by or go under: to be known by a name.^[17][19][18]
15. To make a sound; informally, to say: The bell went ding.^[17][19][4]
16. (informal) To urinate or defecate.^[19][4]
17. (obsolete, Old English–1836) To walk, to move on foot.^[11][20][15]

Noun

1. A turn or attempt: Let me have a go at the crossword.^[19][11][14]
2. A single spell of activity: She read the novel at one go.^[19][6][14]
3. Energy or spirit: The team was full of go.^[19][4]
4. A serving of drink or food.^[11][14][2]
5. (dated) A state of affairs or turn of events, as in a rum go.^[19][11][14]
6. (dated) all the go: the height of fashion.^[19][11][2]

Adjective

1. Working properly and ready, as in all systems go.^{[2][11][4][14]}
2. (engineering) Of a gauge, fitting through or around the object being measured.^[11][14]

Word family

• goer
• go-ahead
• go-between
• go-cart
• go-getter
• forgo
• forego
• outgo

go² the board game

Etymology

The board game is borrowed from Japanese 碁 (go),^{[11][2][14][21]} which the OED explains as shortened from an older form, now 囲碁 (igo).^[11] That form comes from a Middle Chinese compound;^[11] compare Chinese 圍棋 (wéiqí).^[11][14] The American Heritage Dictionary also traces the Japanese word to Middle Chinese, the source of 棋 (qí) as well.^[5][18][22]

Earliest recorded meaning

The board game of territory and capture: first in English in 1840, in the Chinese Repository.^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

The Japanese word is recorded from the early 9th century, its fuller form from the mid 8th, and an 1830 Japanese–English vocabulary glossed it as "chess".^[11] The game is thought to have begun in ancient China and reached Japan in the Asuka period (552–645), according to a work quoted in Evans's dictionary of Japanese loanwords.^[21]

Timeline

• 1840 – the Japanese board game.^[11][2] Dictionary.com dates it to 1885–90.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A board game for two, played with black and white stones on a board of 19 by 19 lines, the aim being to control the most space and capture the opponent's stones; also called igo.^{[2][21][14][22]}