English
crawl
Crawl comes from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to carve’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Norsec. 800–1350krafla
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crawlen
- Englishearliest quotation 1603crawl
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to carve’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Norsec. 800–1350krafla
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crawlen
- Englishearliest quotation 1603crawl
Earliest quotation: 1603, Philemon Holland, The Philosophie: “[…] and catching hold with his hand upon the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’
photo, cinema, graphic, grammar, graffiti, carve, graft, graphite, crab, graphene, demography, grimoire, ultrasonography, crawfish, epigraph, epigram, sonography, 82 more
Today it means
verb To move by dragging one's body along or close to a surface, like a worm or insect, or on one's hands and knees, like a human baby.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- / crawl