Etymologically
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hollow

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈhɒl.əʊ/, US /ˈhɑː.loʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English holh (“hollow place, hole, cave”), used as an adjective,[2][3][4] obscurely related to hol (see hole),[2][4][5] from a Germanic base Proto-Germanic *hul- that Etymonline traces to a root meaning to cover, conceal.[3] The adjective use developed under the influence of the Old English adjective hol, hollow.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a cavity within, not solid: before 1300 as holeh, about 1330 as holwe;[2] about 1200 in Etymonline, the 12th century in Hoad.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, insincere or empty (hollow promises), is from the 1520s.[3] The noun, a hollow place, is found in Old English (about 897) but not in Middle English, and reappears about 1550, with a valley or basin from 1553.[2][6] The middle or depth of night or winter is from 1865.[6] The verb, to make hollow, is from before 1400.[2][3]

Timeline

  • c. 897 – holh, a hollow (noun).[2]
  • before 1300 – hollow (adjective).[2]
  • before 1400 – to hollow (verb).[2]
  • 1520s – insincere.[3]
  • 1553 – a valley.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Having an empty space inside; not solid.
  2. Sunken or curved inward: hollow cheeks.
  3. Of a sound, echoing, as from an empty place.
  4. Without real value or sincerity: hollow promises.

Noun

  1. A hole or empty space.
  2. A small valley.

Verb

  1. To make hollow, often with out.

Word family

  • hollowly
  • hollowness
  • hollowware
  • unhollow
  • hollow-eyed
  • hollow back
  • hollow leg

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press