birth English · revision 3077

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=ine-pro *bher-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /bɜːθ/, US /bɝːθ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|birthe]], earlier burthe and birde,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|non|byrð|t=birth, descent]],^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) which displaced the cognate Old English [[m|ang|ġebyrd|t=birth, descent, race]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is from [[gem-pro|*gaburþiz]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*bher-|t=to carry; to bear children]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the root of the verb [[bear]], with the suffix of process -th, as in [[bath]] and [[death]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It is cognate with Old High German giburt (German Geburt) and Dutch geboorte.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Spellings with ''d'', up to the mid-13th century, show the Old English form giving way to the Norse one.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The fact of being born: about 1200,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and probably before 1200 in the ''Ancrene Riwle'', as burthe.^(Barnhart 1988) The form birthe is from about 1250.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lineage, the condition into which one is born, is also from about 1200, a sense the Old English word already had.^(Etymonline) Childbirth, the act of bearing, is from the mid-13th century^(Etymonline) (before 1300 in the OED),^(OED 1989) and in Middle English the word could also mean “conception” and “offspring, child”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) The figurative “origin, beginning” of things is from 1588 in the OED^(OED 1989) and the 1610s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The verb, “to be born”, is from the mid-13th century,^(Etymonline) “to give birth to” from 1906,^(Etymonline) and the American Heritage Dictionary notes that ''to birth'' a child was long Southern US usage.^(AHD) ''Birth certificate'' is from 1842 and ''birth control'' from 1914.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – the fact of being born; lineage.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-13th century – childbirth; verb, to be born.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1588 – the origin of a thing.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1842 – ''birth certificate''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1906 – verb, to give birth to.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1914 – ''birth control''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The emergence of a baby or young animal from the mother's body; the act of bearing young.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The time or circumstances of being born.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Origin or descent; [[lineage]]: ''of noble birth''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A beginning or origin: ''the birth of jazz''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To give birth to; to deliver a baby.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[birthmark]]

+ * [[birthnight]]

+ * [[birthroot]]

+ * [[birthstool]]

+ * [[birthweight]]

+ * [[birthwort]]

+ * [[multibirth]]

+ * [[prebirth]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bear]]

+ * [[born]]

+ * [[birthday]]

+ * [[burden]]

+ * [[berth]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Orkney dialect a ''birth'' was a current in the sea caused by a strong tide but running a different way from it.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}