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Origin and history of give

give(v.)

Old English giefan (West Saxon) "to give, bestow, deliver to another; allot, grant; commit, devote, entrust," class V strong verb (past tense geaf, past participle giefen), from Proto-Germanic *geban (source also of Old Frisian jeva, Middle Dutch gheven, Dutch geven, Old High German geban, German geben, Gothic giban), from PIE root *ghabh- "to give or receive." It became yiven in Middle English, but changed to guttural "g" by influence of Old Norse gefa "to give," Old Danish givæ.

Meaning "to yield to pressure" is from 1570s. Give in "yield" is from 1610s; give out is mid-14c. as "publish, announce;" meaning "run out, break down" is from 1520s. Give up "surrender, resign, quit" is mid-12c. To give (someone) a cold seems to reflect the old belief that one could be cured of disease by deliberately infecting others. What gives? "what is happening?" is attested from 1940. To not give a (some thing regarded as trivial and valueless) is from c. 1300 (early examples were a straw, a grass, a mite).

give(n.)

"capacity for yielding to pressure," 1868, from give (v.). The Middle English noun yeve, meant "that which is given or offered; a contribution of money," often as tribute, or in expectation of something in return.

also from 1868

Entries linking to give

G

seventh letter of the alphabet, invented by the Romans; a modified gamma introduced c. 250 B.C.E. to restore a dedicated symbol for the "g" sound. For fuller history, see C.

Before the vowels -e-, -i-, and -y-, Old English initial g- changed its sound and is represented in Modern English by consonantal y- (year, yard, yellow, young, yes, etc.). In get and give, however, the initial g- seems to have been preserved by Scandinavian influence. Also see gu-.

As a movie rating in the U.S., 1966, standing for general (adj.). In physics, as an abbreviation of gravity, by 1785.

gave

past tense of give.

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Trends of give

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

More to explore

given
late 14c., "allotted, predestined," past-participle adjective from give (v.). From 1560s as "admitted, supposed, allowed as a supposition." From late 14c. as "disposed, addicted." Middle English also had a noun give, yeve "that which is given or offered freely." The modern noun s
thanksgiving
1530s, "the giving of thanks," from thanks (n.) + present participle of give (v.). Wycliffe (c. 1400) has doinge of thankes for "thanksgiving." In the specific sense of "public celebration acknowledging divine favors" thanksgiving dates from 1630s (the first one in America was he
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
forgive
Old English forgiefan "give, grant, allow; remit (a debt), pardon (an offense)," also "give up" and "give in marriage" (past...tense forgeaf, past participle forgifen); from for-, here probably "completely," + giefan "to give" (from PIE root *ghabh...- "to give or receive")....The sense of "to give up desire or power to punish" (late Old English) is from use of such a compound as a Germanic loan-translation...
antidote
antidoton (pharmakon) "(drug) given as a remedy," from antidoton literally "given against," verbal adjective of antididonai "give...for" (also "give in return, give instead of") from anti "against" (see anti-) + didonai "to give" (from PIE root *do- "to...give")....
resign
late 14c., "give up (something), surrender, abandon, submit; relinquish (an office, position, right, claim)," from Old French...resigner "renounce, relinquish" (13c.), from Latin resignare "to check off, annul, cancel, give back, give up," from re-...The specific meaning "give up a position" also is from late 14c.... The sense of "to give (oneself) up to some emotion or situation" is from 1718. Related: Resigned; resigning....
entitle
also intitle, late 14c., "to give a title to a chapter, book, etc.," from Anglo-French entitler, Old French entiteler "entitle..., call" (Modern French intituler), from Late Latin intitulare "give a title or name to," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en...Sense of "to give (someone) 'title' to an estate or property," hence to give that person a claim to possession or privilege...
render
late 14c., rendren, rendre, "repeat, say again, recite; translate," from Old French rendre "give back, present, yield" (10c.) and Medieval Latin rendere, from Vulgar Latin *rendere, a variant of Latin reddere "give back, return, restore," from red- "back" (see re-) + combining fo
apply
late 14c., "join or combine (with); attach (to something), adhere," from Old French aploiier "apply, use, attach" (12c., Modern French appliquer), from Latin applicare "attach to, join, connect;" figuratively, "devote (oneself) to, give attention," from ad "to" (see ad-) + plicar
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),

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