Etymologically
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wave

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /weɪv/[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English waven,[2][3] inherited from Old English wafian (“to wave with the hands; to fluctuate, undulate”),[4][2] related to wǣfre “wavering, restless”, the source of waver,[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *wab-, the source also of Old Norse vafra “to hover about” and Middle High German waben “to undulate”,[4][6] possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(h)uebh- (“to move to and fro; to weave”).[4][3] The noun, “moving billow of water”, is from 1526, in Tyndale, an alteration under the influence of the verb of Middle English waw, wawe,[4][2][7] from Old English wagian “to move to and fro”,[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *wag-, compare Old Norse vágr “water in motion, wave”, probably from Proto-Indo-European *wegh- (“to go, move”).[4] The usual Old English word for a wave of the sea was ȳþ.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English wafian, about 1000, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints;[2] Middle English waven, “to move back and forth”, 1375.[2][8] Hoad notes that the present senses are not clearly evident before the 16th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

Of a flag, “to stream in the air”, it is from the late 14th century,[4] and transitive, “to brandish”, from the mid-15th century.[4] To make a sign by moving the hand to and fro is from the 1510s, originally nautical.[4] The noun, a wave of the sea, is from 1526,[2][8] a ridge-and-trough surface from the 1540s,[4] a flood or rush of anything figuratively from the 1580s,[4] and an act of waving from 1688.[2] Of earthquakes it is by 1760, of a heat wave in meteorology from 1843,[4] of public feeling from 1851 and of masses of people from 1852.[4][8] In physics, of sound, it is from 1832,[4] and wavelength is from 1850.[2] The stadium wave, made by spectators rising in turn, is from 1984.[8] To make waves, “to cause trouble”, is attested by 1959.[4] The noun and verb have been confused with waive.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – verb, to wave the hands.[2]
  • 1375 – to move back and forth.[2][8]
  • 1510s – to signal with the hand.[4]
  • 1526 – noun, a sea wave.[2][8]
  • 1832 – in physics.[4]
  • 1843 – a heat wave.[4]
  • 1959 – make waves.[4]
  • 1984 – the stadium wave.[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To move freely back and forth or up and down, as branches in the wind.
  2. To signal by moving the hand or something held in it: waved goodbye.
  3. To have a curving or undulating form, as hair.
  4. To direct someone with a wave: waved us through.

Noun

  1. A ridge or swell moving along the surface of the sea or other water.
  2. Something like a wave in form or motion, as a curl in the hair.
  3. A sudden rush or increase: a crime wave or a wave of nausea.
  4. A movement of the hand in greeting or signalling.
  5. In physics, a disturbance that travels through a medium or space, as of light or sound.
  6. A period of unusual weather: a heat wave.

Word family

  • waver
  • waveless
  • wavelessly
  • wavelike
  • wavingly
  • wavy
  • wavelength
  • weave
  • waive
  • heat wave

Usage notes

In the Second World War a WAVE was a member of the women's reserve of the United States Navy, from the acronym of Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (1942).[3][5]

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 g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press