Etymologically
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send

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English senden, inherited from Old English sendan (“to dispatch; to emit, throw”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *sandijaną (“to make go”),[2][5] a causative of Proto-Germanic *sinþaną (“to go, journey”),[2][5][6] which also gave Old English sīþ (“way, journey”).[2][7] Its cognates include Old Frisian senda, Old Saxon sendian, Dutch zenden, German senden and Old Norse senda,[3][8] and Gothic has sandjan.[2][5] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to head for, go”), the root also of sense, comparing Old Irish sét “path”.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause or order to go: Old English sendan, about 725, in Beowulf,[3] and Middle English senden before 1121.[3]

Semantic evolution

Send word, “to dispatch a message”, is from about 1200, and send for, “to summon”, by the late 14th century.[2] To export goods is from 1596,[9] and to make a sound carry from 1597.[9] “To cause to go into a state”, as in send to sleep, is by 1831.[2] The slang sense “to thrill, transport with delight” is by 1932, in American jazz slang.[2] In Scots a send was a messenger sent ahead to the bride.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English sendan (Beowulf).[3]
  • c. 1200 – send word.[2]
  • late 14th century – send for.[2]
  • 1596 – to export.[9]
  • 1831 – to put into a state.[2]
  • 1932 – to thrill.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To cause to be taken or conveyed to a destination; to dispatch.
  2. To direct or enable to go: send a child to school.
  3. To give off or emit; to propel.
  4. To bring into a state: send someone mad.
  5. (slang) To delight or thrill.

Word family

  • sender
  • sendable
  • sendee
  • missend
  • resend
  • send-up
  • send-off
  • send down

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary compares send with dispatch, forward, route, ship and transmit.[11] The nautical send, the driving motion of a wave, is a variant of scend.[12][10]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin