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Origin and history of grieve

grieve(v.)

c. 1200, transitive, "to make worried or depressed; to make angry, enrage;" also "to be physically painful, cause discomfort;" c. 1300 as "cause grief to, disappoint, be a cause of sorrow;" also "injure, harass, oppress," from tonic stem of Old French grever "afflict, burden, oppress," from Latin gravare "make heavy; cause grief," from gravis "weighty" (from PIE root *gwere- (1) "heavy"). Intransitive sense of "be sorry, lament" is from c. 1400. Related: Grieved; grieving.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to grieve

grieving(adj.)

mid-15c., "causing pain," present-participle adjective from grieve. Meaning "feeling pain" is from 1807. Related: Grievingly.

griever(n.)

"one who causes grief" (obsolete), 1590s, agent noun from grieve. Main modern sense, "one who feels grief," is from 1819.

*gwere-(1)

gwerə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "heavy."

It might form all or part of: aggravate; aggravation; aggrieve; bar (n.4) "unit of pressure;" bariatric; baritone; barium; barometer; blitzkrieg; brig; brigade; brigand; brigantine; brio; brut; brute; charivari; gravamen; grave (adj.); gravid; gravimeter; gravitate; gravity; grief; grieve; kriegspiel; guru; hyperbaric; isobar; quern; sitzkrieg.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit guruh "heavy, weighty, venerable;" Greek baros "weight," barys "heavy in weight," often with the notion of "strength, force;" Latin gravis, "heavy, ponderous, burdensome, loaded; pregnant;" Old English cweorn "quern;" Gothic kaurus "heavy;" Lettish gruts "heavy."

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    Trends of grieve

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

    More to explore

    sorrow
    Middle English sorwe, from Old English sorg "grief, regret, trouble, care, pain, anxiety," from Proto-Germanic *sorg- (source also of Old Saxon sorga, Old Norse sorg, Middle Dutch sorghe, Dutch zorg, Old High German soraga, German sorge, Gothic saurga), perhaps from PIE *swergh-
    aggrieve
    c. 1300, agreven, "to disturb, trouble, attack," from Old French agrever "make worse, make more severe" (Modern French aggraver), from Latin aggravare "make heavier; make worse or more oppressive," from ad "to" (see ad-) + gravare "weigh down," from gravis "heavy" (from PIE root
    languish
    exhibit signs of approaching death," from languiss-, present participle stem of Old French languir "be listless, pine, grieve...Weaker sense of "be lovesick, grieve, lament, grow faint," is from mid-14c. Related: Languished; languishing....
    regret
     late 14c., regreten, "to look back with distress or sorrowful longing; to grieve for on remembering," from Old French...From 1550s as "to grieve at (an event, action, revelation of facts, etc.)." Related: Regretted; regretting....
    supprise
    "overpower, subdue, put down; grieve, afflict" (c. 1400), also "take unawares, attack unexpectedly" (mid-15c.), from Anglo-French...
    anger
    c. 1200, "to irritate, annoy, provoke," from Old Norse angra "to grieve, vex, distress; to be vexed at, take offense with...
    doleful
    13c., now archaic), from Old French doel (Modern French deuil), from Late Latin dolus "grief," from Latin dolere "suffer, grieve...
    mourn
    Middle English mornen, from Old English murnan "to feel or express sorrow, grief, or regret; bemoan, long after," also "be anxious about, be careful" (class III strong verb; past tense mearn, past participle murnen), from Proto-Germanic *murnan "to remember sorrowfully" (source a
    pity
    mid-13c., pite, "compassion, kindness, generosity of spirit;" c. 1300 "disposition to mercy, quality of being merciful," also "a feeling of sympathy and compassion aroused by the sorrow or suffering of another," from Old French pite, pitet "pity, mercy, compassion, care, tenderne
    suffer
    mid-13c., sufferen, "allow to occur or continue, refrain from hindering, fail to prevent or suppress," also "be made to undergo, endure, be subjected to" (pain, death, punishment, grief, injury, humiliation); from Anglo-French suffrir, Old French sofrir "bear, endure, resist; per

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