sever

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English severen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman severer,^[5][3][6][7] a variant of Old French sevrer (“to separate”),^[4][8][5] from Vulgar Latin *sēperō,^[5][3][8][9] from Latin sēparō (“to pull apart, separate”),^{[5][3][8][10]} formed from sē- (“apart”) and parō (“to make ready, prepare”).^[8] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, procure”).^[8] The word is thus a doublet of separate, which came straight from Latin.^[8] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1113–19, meaning to separate, detach and distinguish, and also to wean a child.^[11] The OED compares Italian sceverare.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cause a separation; to set people or things apart: before 1382, in the early Wycliffite Bible.^[2][5] The OED's first record of the verb is from 1375,^[5] and Barnhart dates it probably to about 1300.^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

Old French sevrer meant "to separate" in the 12th century, but in French it later narrowed to "to wean", that is, to separate a child from its mother.^[8][9][13] English kept the general meaning; from the start it was used both for separating things in place and for cutting something apart or off with violence, as the Middle English Dictionary shows.^[2] The figurative senses followed in the 15th century: to keep apart by a space or barrier (1422), to distinguish in thought (1426) and to divide into parts (1435).^[5] The intransitive sense "to go apart, part company" is from about 1400,^[8] as in Burns's line "Ae fond kiss, and then we sever".^[7] In biblical language it meant to set apart for a special purpose, a use found from 1382 to 1718.^[5][7] Johnson (1755) put first the sense "to part by violence from the rest".^[14] Law adopted it from 1532,^[5] for two defendants pleading separately or for joint tenants dividing their holding.^[7] Today it is used especially for cutting off a part and for breaking off a tie or relationship.^[15]

Timeline

• 1382 – to separate people or things; to set apart for a special purpose (obsolete by 1718).^[5][2]
• 1398 – to part the lips or eyelids.^[5]
• c. 1400 – intransitive, to go apart, part company.^[8]
• 1422 – to keep apart by an intervening space or barrier.^[5]
• 1426 – to distinguish in thought.^[5]
• 1435 – to divide into parts.^[5]
• 1532 – in legal use.^[5]
• 1626 – to separate one substance from another (obsolete by 1794).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cut off or cut through, especially suddenly or with force: A falling branch had severed the power line.^[15][16][14]
2. To separate or put apart; to divide into parts.^[15][16][5]
3. To break off or end a tie or relationship: The two companies severed their partnership last year.^[15][16][5]
4. To keep apart by an intervening space.^[16][5]
5. (law) Of joint defendants, to plead separately; of joint tenants, to divide their holding.^[7][5]
6. (obsolete) To set apart for a special purpose, in biblical language.^[5][7]

Word family

• severance
• severable
• severally

Related words

• separate
• dissever
• several
• pare
• prepare

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster