Etymograph

English

gaff

Gaff comes from Old Occitan gaf ‘hook’.

  1. Old Occitanc. 950–1500gaf‘hook’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gaffe
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1904gaff

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Occitanc. 950–1500gaf‘hook’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gaffe
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1904gaff

Earliest quotation: 1904, Jack London, New York: “I stepped out and advanced valiantly upon a long-maned…”

The story

Etymology 1, noun sense 5 apparently derives from the idea that the garment tricks or deceives others about the wearer's genitalia.

Every English word from Old Occitan gaf

Another origin of gaff

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150gafsprǣc‘buffoonery, scurrility’uncertain
  2. Englishtodaygaff

Another origin of gaff

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ger-‘to assemble, gather together’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*(h₂)gróm-o-suncertain
  3. Proto-Indo-Iranianc. 2500–1800 BCE*grā́mas‘bunch, pile, bundle, collection’uncertain
  4. Proto-Indo-Aryanprehistoric (reconstructed)same formuncertain
  5. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEग्राम‘an inhabited place, village, hamlet, settlement’uncertain
  6. Ashokan Prakritmodern𑀕𑀸𑀫uncertain
  7. Sauraseni Prakritmodernsame formuncertain
  8. Romanimoderngav‘village’uncertain
  9. Englishtodaygaff

Today it means

noun A tool consisting of a large metal hook with a handle or pole, especially the one used to pull large fish aboard a boat.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old Occitan gaf / gaff

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