Etymology

heave

H4E1A1V4E1

Today it means: To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift (a heavy thing). Full definition →

Middle English heven ← Old English hebban ← Proto-West Germanic *habbjan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*kapyéti
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*habjaną“to take up, lift”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*habbjan
  4. Old English · inherited fromhebban
  5. Middle English · inherited fromheven
  6. English todayheave

From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, from the root *kap-. See also have. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen ("to raise", "to lift"), German heben ("to raise", "to lift"), Danish hæve ("to raise", "to lift"), Albanian kap (“to grasp, seize”), Old Irish cáin (“law, tribute”), cacht (“prisoner”), Latin capiō (“to take”), Latvian kàmpt (“to seize”), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), κώπη (kṓpē, “handle”)). (To lift, to raise): Compare typologically Russian поднима́ть (podnimátʹ), подня́ть (podnjátʹ) (akin to има́ть (imátʹ), име́ть (imétʹ) < Proto-Slavic *jьmati, *jьměti).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishheven all →

haves

Old Englishhebban all →

haves

Proto-West Germanic*habbjan all →

havehoverhaves

Proto-Germanic*habjaną all →

havehavochoverhaveshefthovenheddle

Proto-Indo-European*kapyéti all →

have

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.