Origin and history of delve

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Origin and history of delve

delve(v.)

Middle English delven, from Old English delfan "to dig, turn up with a spade or other tool, excavate" (class III strong verb; past tense dealf, past participle dolfen), common West Germanic (cognates: Old Saxon delban, Dutch delven, Middle High German telben "to dig"). This is perhaps from a PIE root *dhelbh- (source also of Lithuanian delba "crowbar," Russian dolbit', Czech dlabati, Polish dłubać "to chisel;" Russian dolotó, Czech dlato, Polish dłuto "chisel").

Weak inflections emerged 14c.-16c. Figurative sense of "carry on laborious or continued research" is from mid-15c. Related: Delved; delving; delver.

Entries linking to delve

delf(n.)

"anything made by delving or digging," late Old English dælf "trench, ditch, quarry," from gedelf "digging, a digging," from delfan "to dig" (see delve).

Delft

town in Holland,named from its chief canal, from Dutch delf, literally "ditch, canal;" which is related to Old English dælf and modern delve. As a short form of delftware, attested from 1714.

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Trends of delve

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

grave

Proto-Germanic *grabanan (source also of Old Norse grafa "to dig; engrave; inquire into," Old Frisian greva, Dutch graven "to dig, delve...

hoist

For 'tis the sport, to have the engineer Hoist with his own petar: and it shall go hard But I will delve one yard below...

tunnel

early 15c., tonel, "funnel-shaped net for catching birds," from Old French tonnelle "net," or tonel "cask," diminutive of Old French tonne "tun, cask for liquids," possibly from the same source as Old English tunne (see tun). Sense of "tube, pipe" (1540s) developed in English and

groove

c. 1400, "cave; mine; pit dug in the earth" (late 13c. in place names), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse grod "pit," or from Middle Dutch groeve "furrow, ditch" (Modern Dutch groef), both from Proto-Germanic *grobo (source also of Old Norse grof "brook, river bed," Ol

take

Middle English taken, from late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; also compare Swedish ta, past participle tagit). This is reconstructed to

furrow

Middle English furwe, forowe, forgh, furch, from Old English furh "furrow, trench in the earth made by a plow," from Proto-Germanic *furkh- (source also of Old Frisian furch "furrow;" Middle Dutch vore, Dutch voor; German Furche "furrow;" Old Norse for "furrow, drainage ditch"),

tour

c. 1300, "a turn, a shift on duty," from Old French tor, tourn, tourn "a turn, trick, round, circuit, circumference," from torner, tourner "to turn" (see turn (v.)). Sense of "a continued ramble or excursion" is from 1640s. Tour de France as a bicycle race is recorded in English

rout

1590s, "a defeat (of an army, etc.) followed by disorderly retreat," from French route "disorderly flight of troops," literally "a breaking off, rupture," from Vulgar Latin *rupta "a dispersed group," literally "a broken group," from noun use of Latin rupta, fem. past participle

shovel

"instrument consisting of a broad scoop or curved blade with a handle," Middle English shovel, from Old English scofl, sceofol "shovel," from Proto-Germanic *skublo (source also of Old Saxon skufla, Swedish skovel, Middle Low German schufle, Middle Dutch shuffel, Dutch schoffel,

overturn

early 13c., of a wheel, "to rotate, roll over," from over- + turn (v.). Attested from c. 1300 in general transitive sense "to throw over violently;" figurative meaning "to ruin, destroy" is from late 14c. Of judicial decisions, "to reverse," it is attested from 1826. Related: Ove

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