Etymologically
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shaft

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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
  • 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