greet

greet¹ to salute

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English greten, inherited from Old English grētan (“to approach, touch, attack, salute”),^[6][7][2][8] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *grōtjan,^[6][2][9] whose other descendants are grēta (“to accost, greet”), grōtian (“to call upon”), gruozen (“to address, attack”) and their modern forms groeten and grüßen (“to greet, salute”).^[6][7][2][4] Wiktionary writes the Proto-Germanic form *grōtijaną.^[5] Its origin is uncertain.^[6] Etymonline, Barnhart and Klein suggest that it first meant "to make resound" or "to cause to speak", a causative of the verb that gave greet "to weep".^[6][7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English the verb covered any kind of contact: to approach, to touch or handle (hearpan grētan, to play the harp), to attack, and to salute.^[6][2][3] The greeting sense is found in Beowulf.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In English, as in German and Dutch, the friendly sense "to salute" won out over the others.^[6] The sense "to attack" survived until about 1440, after which it was probably only an ironic use of "to salute".^[2] Weekley takes the original meaning to have been "to come in contact with", since the word could mean both salute and attack.^[3] Kersey in 1706 called it "an old word".^[3] The sense "to receive with welcome" is recorded from 1608, in King Lear,^[2][9] and of a sight or sound, "to meet the eye or ear", from 1698.^[2] The use for cries or a reaction that meets a person or event, as in "greeted with silence", dates from 1874.^[2][10] The noun greeting goes back to Old English grēting.^[7]

Timeline

• Old English – to approach; to attack; to salute.^[2]
• c. 1440 – last use of the sense "to attack".^[2]
• 1608 – to receive with welcome.^[2]
• 1698 – of sights or sounds, to meet the eye or ear.^[2]
• 1874 – to meet a person or event with a reaction.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To meet or address someone with words or gestures of welcome or courtesy: The host greeted each guest at the door.
2. To receive or react to something in a particular way: The proposal was greeted with laughter.
3. Of a sight, sound or smell: to meet the eye or ear of someone arriving.
4. To send a friendly message to someone.

Word family

• greeter
• greeting
• meet-and-greet
• regreet

greet² to weep

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English greten, from two Old English verbs of the same meaning that merged: inherited from Old English grǣtan (“to weep, bewail”) (in the Anglian dialect grētan), and grēotan (“to lament”).^{[2][11][9][12]} The first goes back to Proto-Germanic *grætanan,^[6][7] with grātan (“to weep”), gráta (“to weep”) and grāzen (“to cry out, rage”).^{[7][9][11][4]} Barnhart and Etymonline derive it from Proto-Indo-European *gher- (“to call out”),^[7][6] and Merriam-Webster compares hirriō (“to whimper”).^[1] The second verb, grēotan, matches griotan and is of uncertain origin.^[9][11] The second part of regret probably belongs to the same group.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To weep, cry or lament: Old English, in the Corpus Glossary.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old English and Middle English the verb also meant "to weep for, bewail" (until 1340), and "to cry out in entreaty or anger" (about 1325 to 1513).^[2] By the modern period it survived only in Scots and northern English;^[11][3][1] the English Dialect Dictionary recorded it from Shetland to Derbyshire, with past forms such as grat and gret.^[13] A noun greet, "weeping, a cry of sorrow", is recorded from before 1325 and is likewise now Scottish.^[2][11][1]

Timeline

• Old English – to weep, lament.^[2]
• Old English – to bewail (obsolete by 1340).^[2]
• before 1325 – noun, weeping, lamentation.^[2]
• c. 1300 – to shed tears.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. (Scotland and northern England) To weep or cry; to lament: The bairn grat all night.

Noun

1. (chiefly Scottish) Weeping; a fit of crying.