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reave

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Etymology and origin of the English word reave

Pronunciation

reave1 to rob, plunder

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
900 early Old English, Vespasian Psalter
Inherited from
Old English reafian via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *raubōjan

Etymology

The verb meaning to rob is inherited from Middle English reven,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English rēafian (“to rob, plunder, seize”),[5][3][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *raubōjan,[6] also given as *raubōjanan,[3] through Proto-West Germanic *raubōn.[1] It is cognate with Old Frisian rāvia, Old Saxon rōƀon, Old High German roubōn, Dutch roven and German rauben, all meaning to plunder or rob,[8] and with Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌱𐍉𐌽 (biraubōn, “to rob, strip”)[9][7] and Old Norse raufa (“to break open, pierce”).[8][9] The OED takes it as probably a derivative of the Germanic strong verb seen in the past participle rofen (“rent, broken”) and in rjúfa (“to break, rip up”), from the same Indo-European base as Latin rumpō (“to break”).[8][6] Etymonline gives that base as Proto-Indo-European *runp- (“to break”).[3] The Germanic family also yielded rēaf (“plunder, equipment, clothing”),[6] and Klein notes that Italian rubare, Spanish robar, Old French rober and French robe are loans from Germanic.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take possession of what belongs to another by force: early Old English, in the Vespasian Psalter.[8] Bosworth–Toller glosses the Old English verb as to plunder, rob or waste, and to seize as a robber does.[5] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 900.[10]

Semantic evolution

Hoad takes "break" as the original sense of the Germanic base,[6] but in Old English the verb already meant robbing and plundering, whether of people or of places.[5][8] In Middle English it widened to carrying a person off, from about 1175, in the Ormulum, and, with from or out of, to rescuing someone by carrying them off, a use recorded until 1649.[8] From before 1300 it could also take away things like life, rest or sight.[8][11] Chaucer has the verb 32 times, in the senses rob, seize, take away and deprive.[12] Johnson (1755) already called it obsolete, defining it as to take away by stealth or violence, and noted that it had been used in a good sense as well as a bad one.[13] The verb lived on in Scots and northern English: the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Scotland, Ireland, Northumberland, Cumberland and Yorkshire for robbing and stealing, and the OED marks several senses as now chiefly Scottish.[14][8] The spelling reive is originally Scots and appears in wider use when the taking of goods or cattle is meant;[8][3] Weekley credited its spread to Walter Scott.[15]

Timeline

  • Early Old English – to take by force, in the Vespasian Psalter.[8] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 900.[10]
  • Old English – to rob a person, in Beowulf, and to plunder or make raids, in Wulfstan.[8]
  • c. 1175 – to carry a person off, in the Ormulum.[8]
  • c. 1225 – to rescue by carrying off (obsolete by 1649).[8]
  • c. 1230 – to deprive a person or place of something, in the Ancrene Riwle.[8]
  • before 1300 – to take away life, rest or sight.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (archaic) To take away by force or stealth; to plunder or steal: Raiders reaved the herds from the upper valley.[16][9][8]
  2. (archaic) To deprive or strip a person of something by force: an old man reft of his land.[16][9][8]
  3. To make raids; to pillage; now chiefly Scottish.[9][8][11]
  4. (archaic) To carry a person off.[8][11]
  5. (obsolete, c. 1225–1649) To rescue a person by carrying them off.[8][11]

Word family

  • reaver

reave2 to tear, burst

Confidence
Probable
First attested
1400 before 1400, Cursor Mundi
Ultimate origin
Old Norse rífa

Etymology

The verb meaning to tear is apparently a variant from English rive that arose through association with reave1.[8][11][10] Merriam-Webster takes it as probably a modification, under the influence of Middle English reven (“to rob”), of Old Norse rífa (“to tear”),[9] which is the source of rive.[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To tear or split: before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi.[8] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1175–1225.[10]

Semantic evolution

Weekley credited the use of reft asunder to Walter Scott and put it down to confusion between reave and rive.[15] The Shorter Oxford quotes The rock was reft asunder from the Pall Mall Gazette.[11] In modern literary use only the past participle reft is left.[8][11]

Timeline

  • before 1400 – to tear or split, in the Cursor Mundi.[8]
  • c. 1450 – to pluck or pull up, in the Wars of Alexander (obsolete).[8]
  • c. 1560 – to burst (obsolete).[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (archaic) To tear or split; in modern use mainly the past participle reft.[9][8][11]
  2. (archaic) To burst.[9][8][11]
  3. (obsolete, c. 1450–1700) To pull up.[8][11]

Usage notes

A reave in archaeology is a long low boundary bank or wall, especially on Dartmoor, recorded from 1848; the OED calls its origin unknown, and the Shorter Oxford suggests rew.[8][11] A dialect verb meaning to unroof, used especially of the wind, is recorded from before 1728, probably from Scandinavian.[8][14] In Northumberland and Yorkshire reave also meant to turn the edge of a knife.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c 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)
  15. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

  • dill · also from Old English
  • spire · also from Old English
  • kiln · also from Old English
  • unharmed · also from Old English
  • stench · also from Old English
  • paddock · also from Old English
  • sprout · also from Old English
  • glimmer · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Reave.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/reave. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·