grave English · revision 6047

+ English has three main words spelled grave: the place of burial, the adjective meaning serious, and the old verb meaning to carve or engrave.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡreɪv/; the accent: UK /ɡrɑːv/, US /ɡrɑːv/, /ɡreɪv/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|place of burial}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1000|origins=gem-pro *grabą}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The burial place is Middle English grave, [[inh|ang|græf|t=grave, ditch, trench, cave]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from [[gem-pro|*grabą]],^(Etymonline) which is also the source of Old Saxon and Dutch [[m|nl|graf]], [[goh|grab]] (German Grab), [[non|grǫf]] and [[got|𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰|tr=graba|t=ditch]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) It is formed on the Germanic base of Old English [[m|ang|grafan|t=to dig]] (see [[grave#3]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) and is cognate with [[cu|гробъ|tr=grobŭ|t=grave, tomb]];^(Etymonline) Watkins derives the group from a PIE root [[ine-pro|*ghrebh-|t=to dig, scratch]], though it may be a substrate word in Germanic and Balto-Slavic.^(Etymonline) The expected modern form would be *graff; grave comes from the Middle English two-syllable form, probably because the word was so often used in the dative or plural.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A place of burial, an excavation in the earth for a dead body: before 1000.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the Middle Ages to the 17th century graves were temporary, and the bones were moved to ossuaries after some years so that the grave could be reused;^(Etymonline) “perpetual” graves became common from about 1650, according to Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The grave as the natural destination of everyone, or death itself, is from about 1380,^(OED 1989) and personified as Death or Hades from 1611.^(OED 1989) An excavation of any kind, a pit or trench, is from 1526 but is now obsolete.^(OED 1989) ''To turn in one's grave'' is by 1842.^(Etymonline) [[graveyard|alt=Graveyard]] is first American English, from 1773.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1000 – Old English græf.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1380 – the grave as everyone's end.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1611 – personified as Death.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1773 – graveyard.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1842 – to turn in one's grave.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An excavation in the earth in which a dead body is buried; any place of [[burial]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the grave)'' [[death]], or the state of being dead.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ {{homograph|2|serious, weighty}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1541|origins=la gravis}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective is [[bor|frm|grave]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from [[la|gravis|t=heavy, weighty, serious]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) which is cognate with [[sa|गुरु|tr=gurú|t=heavy]], [[grc|βαρύς|tr=barús|t=heavy]] and [[got|𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌿𐍃|tr=kaurus|t=heavy]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from PIE [[ine-pro|*gʷerə-|t=heavy]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The accent sense is after the same use in French (1548).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Weighty, important: 1541 in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) influential, respected, marked by weighty dignity, in the 1540s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The SOED has an isolated late 15th-century use of a serious wound.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Latin gravis was physically heavy and figuratively weighty or oppressive, and of sounds deep or low.^(Etymonline) In English the sense of solemn and sober is from the 1580s, and of matters important or serious from the 1590s.^(Etymonline) Plain or sombre is from the 17th century.^(Hoad 1986) The grammatical sense, the accent mark ` over a vowel, as opposed to the [[acute]], is from 1609,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) about 1600 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) In music grave, slow and solemn, is from French or Italian in the late 16th century.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1541 – weighty, important.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1580s – solemn, sober.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1590s – serious, of matters.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1609 – the grave accent.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Needing serious thought; [[momentous]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Threatening danger or harm.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Dignified and [[solemn]] in manner.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of an [[accent]], written ` over a vowel, as in French è.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A grave accent.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ {{homograph|3|to engrave}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1000|origins=gem-pro *grabaną}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is Middle English graven, [[inh|ang|grafan|t=to dig, carve, engrave]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from [[gem-pro|*grabaną]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source also of [[nl|graven|t=to dig]], [[goh|graban]] (German graben), [[non|grafa]] and [[got|𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽|tr=graban]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) It is cognate with [[lv|grebt|t=to hollow out]] and Old Church Slavonic [[m|cu|погрести|tr=pogreti|t=to bury]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from PIE [[ine-pro|*ghrebh-]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English grafan meant to dig as well as to engrave or carve,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) and Middle English graven, to carve, is probably before 1200.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Trench quotes Coverdale's Isaiah (1535), “grave up dykes”, for the old sense of digging, which German graben keeps.^(Trench 1859) The strong past tense died out in the 15th century;^(Hoad 1986) the past participle [[graven]], as in a ''graven image'' (Wycliffe Bible, 1382), is the only part still used,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and the rest of the word has been replaced by its derivative [[engrave]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1000 – Old English grafan, to dig, carve.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1382 – graven, carved, in the Wycliffe Bible.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1535 – to dig, in Coverdale.^(Trench 1859)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(archaic)'' To [[sculpt]] or [[carve]]; to [[engrave]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' To fix firmly in the mind.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[groove]]

+ * [[engrave]]

+ * [[burgrave]]

+ * [[landgrave]]

+ * [[margrave]]

+ * [[palsgrave]]

+ * [[waldgrave]]

+ * [[graving dock]]

+ * [[gravity]]

+ * [[grief]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Two minor words have the same spelling: grave, a steward and later a local official in parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and a German count (compare [[margrave]]), from Old Norse and Low German;^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989) and grave, to clean a ship's bottom by burning and tarring (15th century), probably from a dialect French grave “shore”, which survives in ''graving dock''.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}