Etymograph

English

grab

Grab comes from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German grabben ‘to seize’, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *grabōną and Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- ‘to grab’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrebʰ-‘to gather, rake, seize’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grabōną‘to gather, rake’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grabbōnreconstructed
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200gravan
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500grabben‘to grasp, seize’uncertain
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1913grab

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrebʰ-‘to gather, rake, seize’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grabōną‘to gather, rake’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*grabbōnreconstructed
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200gravan
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500grabben‘to grasp, seize’uncertain
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1913grab

Earliest quotation: 1913, Joseph Crosby Lincoln, New York: “Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked…”

The story

Related also to Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇā́ti), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇā́ti, “he seizes”), Avestan 𐬔𐬭𐬀𐬠 (grab, “to seize”)), Macedonian грабне (grabne, “to snatch”), Bulgarian грабя (grabja, “to rob, to grab”).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- ‘to gather, rake, grab, seize’

grave, groove, grasp, graft, grub, grapple, 7 more

Another origin of grab

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentغُرَابḡurāb
  2. Englishtodaygrab

Today it means

verb To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- / grab

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