shaft

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ʃɑːft/, US /ʃæft/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shafte, inherited from Old English sceaft (“rod of a spear, staff, shaft”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz,^[2][3] cognate with Old Saxon skaft, Old High German scaft (modern German Schaft), Dutch schacht and Old Norse skapt (“shaft, handle”).^[2][3][4][5] Outside Germanic it is compared with Latin scāpus (“shaft, stem”) and Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron, “staff”) (see sceptre).^[2][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The rod forming the body of a spear or lance: about 1000, in Ælfric's Glossary.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

An arrow is from about 1400.^[7] The long straight part of an object is from the 14th century, and a bar or rod in a machine from the 17th.^[4] The vertical passage of a mine is from the early 15th century,^[3][4] probably from the same word, perhaps as a translation of Middle Low German schacht.^[3][4] The verb, of the sun, to send out long beams, is from the late 14th century,^[3] and the colloquial sense, to treat unfairly, by 1958.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – the shaft of a spear.^[2][7]
• c. 1400 – an arrow.^[7]
• early 15th century – a mine shaft.^[3]
• 17th century – a rod in a machine.^[4]
• by 1958 – to shaft, treat unfairly.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The long narrow stem of a spear or arrow, or the spear or arrow itself.
2. A remark or attack aimed like a missile: shafts of sarcasm.
3. A ray or beam of light.
4. A long handle, as of a hammer or golf club.
5. A rotating rod that transmits power in a machine.
6. A long vertical passage, as into a mine or for a lift.

Verb

1. To fit with a shaft.
2. (informal) To treat harshly or unfairly.

Word family

• shaftless
• shaftlike
• subshaft
• turboshaft
• crankshaft
• aftershaft
• camshaft
• countershaft

Related words

• sceptre
• shave

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 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. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press