river English · revision 3309

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1225, King Horn|origins=la rīpa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈrɪv.ə/, US /ˈrɪv.ɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|rivere]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|xno|rivere]], Old French riviere “river, riverside, river bank”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la-vul|*rīpāria|t=riverbank, seashore, river]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) the noun use of the feminine of [[la|rīpārius|t=of a riverbank]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) from [[m|la|rīpa|t=steep bank of a river, shore]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) Barnhart relates rīpa to Greek ereípein “to plunge down” and a root [[ine-pro|*reip-]],^(Barnhart 1988) and Merriam-Webster also notes the Greek word as perhaps akin.^(MW Collegiate) The Old English word for a river was ēa, cognate with Latin aqua.^(Etymonline) Old French riviere is also the source of Dutch rivier and German Revier “district”.^(Barnhart 1988) Latin rīpārius also gave [[riparian]], and the Italian [[riviera]] keeps the old sense “bank, coast”.^(Hoad 1986)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A large stream of water flowing in a channel: early 13th century,^(Etymonline) probably about 1225 in ''King Horn'',^(Barnhart 1988) and earlier as the surname Rivere (1200).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Romance cognates mostly keep the sense “river bank” or the Latin secondary sense “coast of the sea”, while English took only the stream.^(Etymonline) A river as a place for hawking is from about 1330,^(OED 1989) and a copious flow of anything, also figurative, from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In printing a river is a streak of white space running down a page through several lines, by 1898.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Sell down the river'', from 1836 in American English, first referred to slaves sold to the harsher plantations of the lower Mississippi;^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) the sense “to betray” came only in the 1920s.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Up the river'', “in prison”, from 1891, is said to refer originally to a prison up the Hudson River from New York City.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1200 – the surname Rivere.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1225 – a large stream.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1330 – a river as a place for hawking.^(OED 1989)

+ * late 14th century – a copious flow of anything.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1565 – ''riverbank''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1836 – ''sell down the river''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1891 – ''up the river'', in prison.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1898 – in printing, a streak of white space.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large natural [[stream]] of water flowing in a channel into the sea, a lake or another river.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # An abundant flow of something: ''a river of [[lava]]''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(printing)'' A streak of white space running down through several lines of text.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[riverless]]

+ * [[riverlike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[riparian]]

+ * [[riviera]]

+ * [[arrive]]

+ * [[rival]]

+ * [[rive]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate, now archaic and dialect ''river'', “one who rives or splits”, is formed from [[rive]].^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}