English
ache
Ache may come from Middle English aken ‘to ache, to hurt’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500aken‘to ache, to hurt’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611ache
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500aken‘to ache, to hurt’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611ache
Earliest quotation: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “By'r lakin, I can goe no further, Sir, /…”
The story
The verb was originally strong, conjugating for tense like take. I ake, I oke, I have aken), but gradually became weak during Middle English; the noun was originally pronounced as /eɪt͡ʃ/ as spelled (compare breach, from break). Historically the verb was spelled ake, and the noun ache (even after the form /eɪk/ started to become common for the noun; compare again break which is now also a noun). The verb came to be spelled like the noun when lexicographer Samuel Johnson mistakenly assumed that it derived from Ancient Greek ἄχος (ákhos, “pain”) due to the similarity in form and meaning of the two words.
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *akaną ‘to ache’
through Middle English aken ‘to ache, to hurt’
Today it means
verb To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English aken / ache