Etymologically
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raven

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raven1 bird

Pronunciation

  • /ˈreɪvən/[1]

Etymology

The bird is inherited from Middle English raven (also reven), inherited from Old English hræfn (also hrefn, and with a regular change of the consonants, hræmn and hremm),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hrabnaz.[3][5][6] Its cognates include rāven (modern raaf), hraban (modern Rabe) and hrafn.[2][6][7][8] Hoad and Ayto take the Germanic word to be imitative of the bird's harsh croak.[6][9] Merriam-Webster and Klein relate it to Latin crepō (“to creak, rattle”), and Merriam-Webster and Weekley to corvus (“raven”) and Ancient Greek κόραξ (kórax, “raven”);[10][11][8] Etymonline derives all of these from an imitative root for harsh sounds,[3] while Barnhart calls any connection outside Germanic a matter of conjecture.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The bird Corvus corax: early Old English, in the Erfurt Glossary.[7] Barnhart dates the Mercian form hræfn to before 800 and the Middle English reaven, reven to before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.[2]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English the name was given to other black birds, and to the raven banner of Viking leaders, as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 879.[7] The raven appears in heraldry from a1450, and in Chaucer's House of Fame (c. 1380) it names the constellation Corvus.[7] Etymonline notes, quoting the OED, that the bird is popularly regarded as one of evil omen;[3] from 1606 to 1874 a raven was also a person who brought bad news or made gloomy predictions.[7] Johnson (1755) illustrated it with Lady Macbeth's "The raven himself is hoarse".[12] The adjective, glossy black like a raven's plumage, especially of hair, comes from Milton's Comus (1637; 1634 in Barnhart).[7][10][2] In County Down raven-dark meant black, and in Middlesex a raven's-bill was a T-shaped tool used by hurdle-makers.[13]

Timeline

  • before 800 – Mercian hræfn.[2]
  • early Old English – the bird.[7]
  • 879 – a Viking raven banner, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.[7]
  • c. 1380 – the constellation Corvus, in Chaucer.[7]
  • a1450 – (heraldry) a raven as a charge.[7]
  • 1606 – a bringer of bad news (obsolete by 1874).[7]
  • 1637 – adjective, glossy black.[7][10]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large crow, Corvus corax, with glossy black plumage, a heavy bill and a deep croaking call, found across the northern hemisphere.
  2. (astronomy) the Raven: the southern constellation Corvus.
  3. (capitalized) A trickster hero in the traditions of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest of Canada.

Adjective

  1. Of a glossy, intense black, especially of hair: raven curls.

raven2 devour, plunder

Pronunciation

Etymology

The verb meaning "to devour, plunder" is borrowed from Old French raviner (“to take by force; to rush”),[14][6][10][3] formed on ravine (“plunder, violence, rush”), from Latin rapīna (“plunder, robbery”),[10][3][8] from rapiō (“to seize, carry off”), the verb behind rapid and rapine.[3][8] The OED, revising the entry in 2008, instead derives it from the noun ravin, plunder, comparing the rare Old French verb, which meant to take off by force and to stream or rush.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take away property by force, or to divide it as spoil: a1513, in Robert Fabyan's New Chronicles of England and France.[7] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1513 and the Shorter Oxford to the late 15th century;[10][14] Etymonline gives the mid-14th century, with the variant ravine.[10][14][3]

Semantic evolution

From plunder the verb moved to greedy eating: to eat voraciously is recorded from 1530, in Palsgrave, and to devour prey from 1557.[7] The 1560 Geneva Bible used it for prowling after prey; from 1607 one could raven for or after something one craved; from 1830 it meant simply to be ravenously hungry.[7] Etymonline considers the verb obsolete except in the participle ravening, and Weekley notes that the derivative ravenous now usually just means hungry.[3][8] In Yorkshire dialect the verb meant to wander about in search of food, to pester someone persistently, and to abuse.[13]

Timeline

  • a1513 – to take away by force, divide as spoil.[7]
  • 1530 – to eat voraciously.[7]
  • 1557 – to devour.[7]
  • 1560 – to prowl after prey.[7]
  • 1570 – to plunder, maraud.[7]
  • 1607 – to crave something.[7]
  • 1830 – to be ravenously hungry.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To devour greedily.
  2. To prowl in search of prey, or to plunder.
  3. To have a ravenous hunger or craving, often with for or after.

Word family

  • ravening
  • ravenous
  • rook
  • crow
  • rapine
  • ravin
  • ravish
  • rapacious

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b 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)
  14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press