English
carve
Carve comes from Middle English kerven ‘to cut into’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to scratch’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to scratch’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kerbaną‘to cut’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kerban‘to carve, to cut’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ċeorfan‘to cut’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kerven‘to cut into’
- Englishearliest quotation 1598–1599carve
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to scratch’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kerbaną‘to cut’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kerban‘to carve, to cut’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ċeorfan‘to cut’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kerven‘to cut into’
- Englishearliest quotation 1598–1599carve
Earliest quotation: 1598–1599, Much Adoe about Nothing: “Lie ten nights awake carving the fashion of a…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to scratch’
photo, graphic, cinema, grammar, crawl, crab, graffiti, graft, graphite, graphene, demography, crawfish, grimoire, ultrasonography, epigraph, epigram, sonography, 82 more
Today it means
verb To cut.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- / carve