Etymologically
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snake

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sneɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English snaca,[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *snakô,[2][3] cognate with Middle Low German snake and Old Norse snákr,[2][4] related to snail and to Old High German snahhan (“to creep”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sneg- (“to crawl”).[3][4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1000 in Barnhart and the OED, where Old English snaca translates Latin scorpio.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In modern English snake has gradually replaced serpent in popular use;[3] it was traditionally the British grass snake as distinct from the venomous adder.[3] A treacherous person is a snake from 1590, after Aesop's fable,[2][7] and snake in the grass translates Virgil's latet anguis in herba.[3][6] Snake-like devices are named from the 17th century.[3] The verb, to twist hair, is from 1653, and to move or wind like a snake from 1848, in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms.[2][3] Snake eyes, two ones in dice, is from 1919, and snakes and ladders is a board game.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – Old English snaca.[2][7]
  • 1590 – a treacherous person.[2]
  • 1653 – the verb.[2]
  • 1848 – to move like a snake.[2]
  • 1919 – snake eyes.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A long, limbless reptile, some kinds of which have a venomous bite.
  2. A treacherous or deceitful person.
  3. A flexible tool for clearing blocked pipes.

Verb

  1. To move or extend in a winding, twisting way.

Word family

  • snakelike
  • snail
  • sneak
  • serpent
  • snaky

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press