glaive

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kelh₂-“to beat; to break”
2. Old Irish · derived fromclaideb
3. Proto-Celtic · derived from*kladiwos“sword”
4. Latin · derived fromgladius“sword”
5. Late Latin · derived fromglavus
6. Old French · derived fromglaive“lance; sword”
7. Middle English · inherited fromgleyve“lance, glaive”
8. English todayglaive

From Middle English gleyve (“lance, glaive”), from Old French glaive (“lance; sword”), from Late Latin glavus. The further etymology is uncertain; one possibility is that glavus reflects Latin gladius (“sword”) crossed with clāva (“club”); another is that it derives from a re-crossing of gladius with Proto-Celtic *kladiwos (“sword”); yet another is that it is a borrowing into Late Latin from Old Irish claideb. All of the aforementioned words derive ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat; to break”). The Oxford English Dictionary notes that none of these words had the oldest meaning of Old French glaive (“lance”). The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch glavie, glaye (“lance”); Middle High German glavîe, glævîn (“lance”), Swedish glaven (“lance”).

Words from the same roots