Etymologically
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nerve

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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.
  • 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