timber

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtɪmbə/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English timber (“building, structure; building material”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *temran,^[2][3][4] source also of Old Norse timbr and German Zimmer (“room”),^[3][2][5] according to Watkins from Proto-Indo-European *deme-, to build, possibly a form of *dem-, house, household,^[3][2] the source of Ancient Greek δόμος (dómos) and Latin domus.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A building, structure, house: before 750; only Old English.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Building material, trees suitable for building, is from Alfred's writings (before 899).^[2][6] Growing trees and woods in general are from late Old English.^[3][6] The pieces of wood composing a ship's frame are from 1748, as in shiver my timbers.^[3] Slang timber-toes, a man with a wooden leg, is by 1785.^[3] The verb, Old English timbran, was the chief word for to build, now obsolete in this sense;^[3][2] to furnish with timber is from the 1570s.^[3] As a call warning that a cut tree is about to fall, it is from 1912, in Canadian English.^[3] The timber wolf is from 1846.^[3] Potential material for a post, as presidential timber, is figurative.^[7][8]

Timeline

• before 750 – a building.^[6]
• before 899 – building material.^[2]
• 1570s – to furnish with timber (verb).^[3]
• 1748 – a ship's timbers.^[3]
• 1846 – timber wolf.^[3]
• 1912 – timber! (warning cry).^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Wood prepared for use in building; lumber.
2. Trees or wooded land as a source of wood.
3. A beam or piece of wood in a structure, or a rib of a ship.
4. Suitable material for a role or position: managerial timber.

Verb

1. To support or frame with timbers.

Interjection

1. A warning shout that a felled tree is about to fall.

Word family

• timberless
• timbery
• sawtimber
• timberhead
• timberman
• timberwork
• half-timbered
• timbered

Related words

• lumber
• domestic
• domicile

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins