axe English · revision 39646

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early Old English, King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care|origins=gem-pro *akwisī}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /æks/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It continues [[inh|enm|ax]] and [[m|enm|ex]],^(Skeat 1911) [[inh|ang|æx]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) earlier [[m|ang|æces]] and, in Northumbrian, [[m|ang|acas]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The OED explains the two-syllable forms as Anglian and the one-syllable ''æx'' as West Saxon.^(OED 2026) It is cognate with [[ofs|axa]], [[osx|akus]], [[goh|acchus]] (modern [[m|de|Axt]], with an added final consonant), [[nl|aaks]], [[non|øx]] and [[got|𐌰𐌵𐌹𐌶𐌴𐌹|tr=aqizi]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*akwisī]],^(Wiktionary) and Hoad reconstructs two stem forms.^(Hoad 1986) The further origin is uncertain and disputed.^(OED 2026) A link with [[grc|ἀξίνη|tr=axínē|t=axe]] and [[la|ascia|t=axe, mason's trowel]] is often proposed,^(OED 2026)^(Ayto 2005) and Etymonline traces all of them to [[ine-pro|*agw(e)si-|t=axe]];^(Etymonline) Barnhart instead separates the Latin and Greek words, which he derives from [[m|ine-pro|*aksī]].^(Barnhart 1988) The OED finds these explanations formally difficult and not compatible with each other, and suggests that a word for such an important tool may have passed between languages by borrowing, perhaps from a non-Indo-European language.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A chopping tool with a squarish metal head set at right angles on a wooden handle: early Old English, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's ''Pastoral Care''.^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates ''æces'' to before 830, in the Vespasian Psalter.^(Barnhart 1988) The battle-axe and the executioner's axe are also Old English senses.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Johnson (1755) defined an axe as a metal head with a sharp edge fixed in a handle, to cut with.^(Johnson 1755) Several proverbial phrases grew up around the tool: ''to hang up one's axe'', to stop work or retire, is found from c. 1275 in ''The Owl and the Nightingale'',^(OED 2026) and ''to send the axe after the helve'', to throw away what remains after a great loss, from 1546.^(OED 2026) ''To have an axe to grind'', a private aim, is originally American (1810).^(OED 2026) Etymonline traces it to an essay of 1810 by Charles Miner, in which a man flatters a boy into turning the grindstone for him, and notes that it was long misattributed to Benjamin Franklin,^(Etymonline) as Weekley did.^(Weekley 1921) The figurative ''axe'', the drastic cutting of spending or staff, is recorded from 1886,^(OED 2026) and Etymonline and Cresswell date it to 1922,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) probably from the headsman's axe.^(Etymonline) The verb began as a bricklayer's term, to trim a brick with an axe (1700 in the OED, the 1670s in Etymonline),^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and came to mean to cut back or abolish in 1923,^(OED 2026) with slang ''axed'', dismissed, from 1922.^(GDoS) In jazz from 1955 an ''axe'' was a musical instrument, at first a saxophone, and in rock slang from 1967 a guitar.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * early Old English – a chopping tool; an executioner's axe.^(OED 2026)

+ * Old English – a battle-axe.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1275 – ''to hang up one's axe''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1546 – ''to send the axe after the helve''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1700 – verb, to trim a brick with an axe.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1810 – ''to have an axe to grind'' (US).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1837 – verb, to strike with an axe.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1851 – (archaeology) a prehistoric stone axe.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1886 – ''the axe'', drastic cutting of spending or staff.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1923 – verb, to cut back or abolish.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1955 – (jazz slang) a musical instrument; a guitar from 1967.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A tool with a heavy, sharp-edged metal [[blade]] fixed to a long handle, used for [[fell|alt=felling]] trees and splitting wood.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A broad-bladed axe used as a weapon; a [[battle-axe]].^(OED 2026)

+ # ''the axe'' (informal): dismissal from a job, or a sharp cut in spending or services: ''Two hundred posts face the axe.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (slang) A musical instrument, especially a [[guitar]] or formerly a [[saxophone]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''an axe to grind'': a private motive, grievance or pet subject.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cut, shape or strike with an axe.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+ # (informal) To dismiss staff, or to cut back sharply or [[abolish]] a service, a plan or a budget.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[poleaxe]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hatchet]]

+ * [[pickaxe]]

+ * [[adze]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American spelling is ''ax''.^(Ayto 2005)^(Collins 2023) Ayto notes that the British ''axe'' has no historical justification: it first appeared in the late 14th century, and the first edition of the OED (1885) still made ''ax'' the main form.^(Ayto 2005)^(Etymonline) A separate, obsolete ''axe'' (1551–1796), from French, was a byform of [[axis]].^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Weekley points out that ''curtle-axe'' and ''pickaxe'' are unrelated to it.^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}