reeve

reeve · noun¹

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*garāfijō“officer, official”
2. Old English · inherited fromrēfa
3. Middle English · inherited fromreve
4. English todayreeve

From Middle English reve, from Old English rēfa, an aphetism of ġerēfa (also grœ̄fa), from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō (“officer, official”). Compare Danish greve, Swedish greve, Dutch graaf, German Graf. The role, and eventually the word, was mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.

reeve · verb²

1. Dutch · borrowed fromreven“to take in, insert”
2. English todayreeve

Apparent alternative form of reef (“to pull or yank strongly”, verb) or from Dutch reven (“to take in, insert”).

reeve · noun³

Variant of dialectal ree, but of obscure ultimate origin.

Reeve · proper noun⁴

* As an English surname, from the noun reeve. * As an Irish surname, variant of Reeves.

Words from the same roots