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nave

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Etymology and origin of the English word nave

Pronunciation

nave1 hub of a wheel

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
899 before 899, Alfred's Boethius
Inherited from
Old English nafu via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *nabō

Etymology

The hub of a wheel is inherited from Middle English nave, also nafe,[2][3] inherited from Old English nafu, also nafa,[3][4][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *nabō.[3][4][7][8] It is cognate with Old Saxon naba, Old Norse nǫf, Middle Dutch nave, Dutch naaf, Old High German naba and German Nabe.[9][4][7] Outside Germanic it is related to Sanskrit नभ्य (nábhya, “hub”),[4][8] Latvian naba (“navel”) and Old Prussian nabis (“nave, navel”),[4][9][8] and the OED adds Latin umbō (“boss of a shield”).[9] It is related to navel:[9][5][10] Klein explains that the nave of a wheel was compared to the navel of the body.[11][3] Kroonen suggests an ablauting Indo-European noun Proto-Indo-European *h₃nobʰ-eh₂-.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The central block of a wheel, into which the axle fits, with the spokes radiating from it: in early Old English, first in the Épinal Glossary;[9] Barnhart cites Alfred's translation of Boethius, before 899.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it was used especially of the hub of a cart wheel, and appears in surnames.[2] Shakespeare used it once for the navel, in Macbeth, and later uses only allude to that passage.[9] Johnson (1755) defined it as the middle part of the wheel in which the axle moves, quoting Hamlet.[12] Old English nafogar was the source of auger.[13][14] In Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire dialect a nave was a frame of sticks used in thatching, and in Shropshire a prop for the shaft of a loaded cart.[15]

Timeline

  • early Old English – the hub of a wheel, in the Épinal Glossary.[9] Barnhart's first record is in Alfred's Boethius, before 899.[4]
  • before 1325 – Middle English nawes, naves, the hubs of a cart.[2]
  • before 1616 – the navel, in Shakespeare's Macbeth.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The central block of a wheel, through which the axle passes, with the spokes radiating from it; the hub.[10][16][9]

nave2 main body of a church

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1501
Borrowed from
Latin navis
Ultimate origin
Latin nāvis
Etymology tree of nave2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin navis
Aromanian nai
Italian nave
English nave
From the same root · nave2
Latin navicula ← navis

Etymology

The main body of a church is borrowed from Medieval Latin nāvis (“nave of a church”),[10][17][4][3][18] a special use of Latin nāvis (“ship”).[3][5][18][16] The OED, in its revision of 2003, gives three possible sources: borrowed from Italian nave, Spanish nave, both meaning "ship" and "body of a church", or directly the Latin word, which had the church sense in post-classical Latin from the early 12th century.[9] The Latin noun is cognate with Ancient Greek ναῦς (naûs, “ship”), Old Irish nau (“ship, vessel”), Old Norse nór (“ship”) and the first part of Old English nōwend (“shipmaster, sailor”),[9][10] from Proto-Indo-European *nau- (“boat”).[3] The same Latin word gave French nef, borrowed into English as nef.[9][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

The main part of a church, where the congregation sits, usually from the west door to the chancel: 1501, in a letter of the reign of Henry VII.[9] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart date the word to 1673,[10][4] Etymonline to the 1670s.[3]

Semantic evolution

Most dictionaries explain the name by the resemblance of the long hall to a ship.[3][16][19] Barnhart notes the traditional explanation, that it alludes to the Church as a ship tossed by the sea, but prefers the likeness of the hall to a hull,[4] while Weekley also mentions a possible early Christian confusion of ναῦς (naûs) with ναός (naós, “temple”).[20] German Schiff and Dutch schip likewise mean both "ship" and "nave".[18][20] The word was used attributively from 1542,[9] and Merriam-Webster also records it for the large open central space of other buildings, such as a railway station.[10] Shelley used nave as a verb, to make like a nave, in 1820.[9]

Timeline

  • 1501 – the main body of a church.[9] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart first record it in 1673.[10][4]
  • 1542 – attributive use.[9]
  • 1820 – verb, to make like a nave, in Shelley.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The main part of the interior of a church, from the entrance to the chancel, usually flanked by aisles; the long central hall of a cruciform church.[10][16][9]
  2. A large open central space in another building, such as a railway station.[10]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  15. ^ 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)
  16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  17. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  18. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  19. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  20. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nave.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/nave. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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