grief

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɹiːf/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English gref, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gref, Old French grief, wrong, misfortune,^[2][3][4] from grever, to afflict, burden (see grieve),^[2][3] from Latin gravāre (“to make heavy; to cause grief”),^[2][4] from gravis, heavy (see grave),^[2][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gwere- (“heavy”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pain or torment, hardship: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Displeasure, anger, is an obsolete sense of before 1300, and hurt or injury done by another of about 1330.^[6] Sorrow, mental pain, is from about 1250–1300.^[3][2] A bodily injury or ailment is from 1398, now obsolete.^[6] A wrong that is the subject of formal complaint is from about 1420.^[6] The spelling grief was introduced by Chaucer about 1390, probably from his knowledge of French.^[3] Good grief!, an exclamation of surprise or dismay, is from 1912.^[2] To come to grief and the informal give someone grief, trouble or annoyance, are later idioms.^[7] In Cornwall to make grief between meant to make mischief.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1200 – torment.^[3]
• c. 1250 – sorrow.^[3]
• c. 1390 – spelling grief.^[3]
• c. 1420 – a grievance.^[6]
• 1912 – good grief.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Deep sorrow, especially at someone's death.
2. A cause of deep distress.
3. (informal) Trouble or annoyance: giving me grief.

Word family

• griefless
• grieflessness
• grief-stricken

Related words

• grievance
• grieve
• grievous
• grave
• gravity

Usage notes

To come to grief means to end in failure or disaster.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ 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)