scythe English · revision 831

11 Oct 2026, 00:14 by bogdan “New entry from the dictionary sources (AHD, Barnhart, Etymonline, MW, OED, RHWU, Wiktionary, Hoad, MED, Word Origins)” current version
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+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|enm|sithe]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) [[inh|ang|sīþe]], earlier ''siġðe'',^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) from Proto-Germanic ''*segiþō''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It is cognate with Middle Low German ''segede'', Middle Dutch ''sichte'' and Old Norse ''sigðr'',^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) and goes back to a PIE root meaning “to cut”, which also gave Latin ''secāre'' and English [[saw]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MW Collegiate) The ''sc-'' spelling appears in the early 15th century, influenced by Latin ''scissor'' “cutter” and ''scindere'' “to cut”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ An implement for mowing grass and other crops, with a long curving blade fixed at an angle to a long handle (c. 725).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The scythe was borrowed from the ancients as the attribute of Time, and since the Middle Ages it has been carried by personifications of Time and Death (1387–8).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) It also named a curved blade used as a weapon, as on the scythed chariots of antiquity.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary) The verb appears in the 1570s, “to use a scythe”, and in the 1590s “to mow”;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) by 1897 it described a sweeping, mowing motion,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and figuratively to cut down swiftly and drastically (1970).^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 725 – Old English ''siġðe'', a scythe.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * 1387–8 – attribute of Time or Death.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1422–41 – spelling with ''sc-''.^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * 1573–80 – verb, to use a scythe.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * 1597 – to cut with a scythe.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1897 – to move with a sweeping motion.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # An implement for [[mow|alt=mowing]] or [[reap|alt=reaping]], consisting of a long, curved, single-edged blade attached at an angle to a long, bent handle.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ===Verb===
+ # To cut or mow with a scythe, or as if with one.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # To use a scythe.^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[scytheless]]
+ * [[scythelike]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[sickle]]
+ * [[saw]]
+ * [[section]]
+ * [[scissors]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}