nerve

Pronunciation

• IPA: /nɜːv/ (UK); /nɝv/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English nerf, nerve, borrowed from Old French nerf (“sinew, tendon, nerve”) and directly Medieval Latin and Latin nervus (“sinew, tendon; cord, bowstring”),^[2][3][4] with metathesis from a pre-Latin *neuros,^[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *(s)neu- (“tendon, sinew”), also the source of Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “sinew, nerve”) and Sanskrit snāvan, sinew.^[3][4] Hoad relates it to Latin nēre, to spin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sinew or tendon: about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde;^[2] a nerve in the modern sense before 1400.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval surgeons understood the nerves, but often confused them with tendons.^[3] From the sinew sense came strength, vigour and force (about 1600), which led to the main strength of something, as in the nerves of war (1603).^[3][6] Courage or firmness of mind is from about 1600, and coolness in danger by 1809;^[3] Word Origins dates the sense boldness from the early 19th century.^[7] The bad sense, impudent boldness, cheek, is from 1887,^[3] and nerves, nervousness, from the 19th century.^[8] The verb, to give strength to, is from 1749, now usually nerve oneself.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – a sinew.^[2]
• before 1400 – a nerve.^[2]
• c. 1600 – strength; courage.^[3]
• 1749 – to give strength (verb).^[3]
• 1809 – coolness in danger.^[3]
• 1887 – impudence.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A bundle of fibres that carries impulses between the brain or spinal cord and other parts of the body.
2. Courage and steadiness in a difficult situation.
3. (informal) Impudent boldness; cheek: what a nerve!
4. (nerves) Nervousness or anxiety.
5. (botany) A vein in a leaf.

Verb

1. (nerve oneself) To summon the courage to do something.

Related words

• enervate
• neuron
• nervous
• nervure
• nervy
• neural
• neurosis
• sinew

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin