Etymology

yaw

Y4A1W4

Today it means: The rotation of an aircraft, ship, or missile about its vertical axis so as to cause the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, ship, or missile to deviate from the flight line or heading in its horizontal plane. Full definition →

Old Norse jaga ← Middle Low German jagen ← Old Saxon *jagōn
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*jakkōną“to hunt”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*jagōn
  3. Old Saxon · derived from*jagōn
  4. Middle Low German · derived fromjagen“to hunt, chase, pursue”
  5. Old Norse · derived fromjaga“to chase, drive, move back and forth”
  6. English todayyaw

Unknown, first attested in the mid-16th century. Perhaps related to yar (“quick, agile”), or alternatively from Old Norse jaga (“to chase, drive, move back and forth”), from Middle Low German jagen (“to hunt, chase, pursue”), from Old Saxon *jagōn, from Proto-West Germanic *jagōn, from Proto-Germanic *jakkōną (“to hunt”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.