Etymologically
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hand

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /hænd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hand, inherited from Old English hand (also hond),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *handuz.[2][3] Its relatives include Dutch hand, German Hand and Old Norse hǫnd.[2][5][4] The word has no known relatives outside Germanic[3] and its origin is uncertain.[2][5][4] Klein and Chambers connect it with a Germanic verb meaning “to seize”, so that it would first have meant “the grasper”.[6][7] Like many Indo-European words for the hand, the Germanic ones could also mean the hand and arm together.[3][2] The Old English plural handa gave way in Middle English to handen, and then to the modern plural in -s.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The human hand: Old English hond, before 830,[3] and earlier in the compound handful (about 700).[3] In Old English it also meant “side, direction” and “power, control, possession”, from the hand's grip.[2]

Semantic evolution

Hand meaning “handwriting” dates from the late 14th century.[2][5] A hand was a manual worker from the 1580s,[2] a hired workman from the 1630s and a sailor from the 1660s;[2] all hands for a whole ship's crew is from the late 16th century.[8] The hand of a clock dates from the 1570s,[2] and the unit of four inches, now used only for the height of horses, from the 1560s.[2][9] The cards held by one player were a hand from the 1620s,[2] and applause from 1838.[2] Hand over fist grew out of hand over hand (mid-18th century), used of a sailor climbing or hauling a rope, and hands down comes from a jockey so sure of winning that he could drop his hands (mid-19th century).[8] The verb, “to take charge of, seize”, dates from about 1400;[2][3] the earlier verbs were hend and handle.[2] “To pass something to someone” is from the 1640s,[2][10] and hand it to “to give credit to” is slang from 1906.[2][10] Handbook was Old English, a translation of Medieval Latin manuālis liber,[5][3] handwriting is from 1421[3] and handy from 1535.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 700 – handful.[3]
  • before 830 – Old English hond.[3]
  • late 14th century – handwriting.[2][5]
  • c. 1400 – verb, to take charge of.[2][3]
  • 1421 – handwriting.[3]
  • 1560s – a measure of four inches.[2]
  • 1570s – the hand of a clock.[2]
  • 1580s – a manual worker.[2]
  • 1620s – a hand of cards.[2]
  • 1640s – verb, to pass to someone.[2]
  • 1838 – a round of applause.[2]
  • 1906 – hand it to.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The end part of the arm below the wrist, made up of the palm, fingers and thumb.
  2. A pointer on a dial, such as that of a clock.
  3. A manual worker; a member of a crew: a farmhand, all hands.
  4. A role or part in doing something: had a hand in it.
  5. Control or possession: in good hands.
  6. A side or direction: on the other hand.
  7. Handwriting.
  8. A round of applause.
  9. The cards held by a player, or one round of a card game.
  10. A unit of length of four inches, used for the height of horses.

Verb

  1. To give or pass with the hands.
  2. To help or guide with the hands.
  3. (nautical) To roll up and secure a sail; to furl.

Word family

  • hander
  • handless
  • handlike
  • deckhand
  • farmhand
  • stagehand
  • hand down
  • hand in
  • handle
  • handy
  • handsome
  • manual

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
  8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press