Etymologically
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grief

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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

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)