eve English · revision 6009

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1200}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /iːv/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English eve, a variant of [[even]] “evening”,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) which is [[inh|ang|ǣfen]];^(Etymonline) the final n was lost, perhaps because it was taken for an inflection,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) as in [[game]], [[maid]] and [[clew]].^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) The Old English word is from [[gem-pro|*ēbanþ-]], which also gave Dutch avond and German Abend, and is of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Evening, especially the time between sunset and dark: about 1200 in Etymonline and probably before 1200 in Barnhart; before 1250 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The evening, and then the day, before a saint's day or church festival is from the late 13th century, about 1290 in the OED, as in Christmas Eve;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) the sense existed earlier in the form even (1121) and in Old English ǣfen (about 725).^(Barnhart 1988) The time just before any event, as in ''on the eve of the war'', is from 1780.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In its original sense eve has been replaced by [[evening]] and survives only in poetry.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – evening.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1290 – the day before a festival.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1780 – the time just before an event.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The evening or day before a [[holiday]] or special day: ''Christmas Eve''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The time just before an important event: ''on the eve of the election''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(literary)'' [[evening|alt=Evening]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[yestereve]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[evening]]

+ * [[even]]

+ * [[evensong]]

+ * [[eventide]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Eve, the name of the first woman in Genesis, is a different word, through Late Latin Eva from Hebrew Ḥawwāh, explained in the Bible as “a living being”;^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Robert Alter notes that this, like most name explanations in Genesis, is probably a folk etymology, and that the name sounds like the Aramaic word for “serpent”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}