Etymograph

English

graft

Graft comes from Old French greffe ‘stylus’, from Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φω ‘to write’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*grə́pʰō‘to scratch, cut or carve into’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγρᾰ́φωgrápheinas γράφειν‘to write’
  4. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEγραφείονgrapheíon
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgraphium‘stylus’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400greffe‘stylus’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500graffe
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1717graft

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*grə́pʰō‘to scratch, cut or carve into’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγρᾰ́φωgrápheinas γράφειν‘to write’
  4. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEγραφείονgrapheíon
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgraphium‘stylus’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400greffe‘stylus’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500graffe
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1717graft

Earliest quotation: 1717, Alexander Pope: “And graft my love immortal on thy fame!”

The story

So named from the resemblance of a scion or shoot to a pointed pencil.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’

grammar, crawl, crab, carve, crawfish, astrophotography, 80 more

through Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō ‘to scratch, cut or carve into’

photo, cinema, graphic, graphite, graphene, epigram, 74 more

through Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φω ‘to write’

photography, graffiti, demography, grimoire, ultrasonography, epigraph, sonography, 41 more

Another origin of graft

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrebʰ-‘to dig, scratch, bury’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰróbʰ-reconstructedo-grade form of *gʰrebʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*grabaną‘to dig’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*graban‘to dig’reconstructed
  5. Old Dutchc. 500–1150gravan‘to dig’
  6. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500graven‘dig’
  7. Middle Dutch, derivedc. 1150–1500graft‘canal’
  8. Englishtodaysame form

The contemporary senses “depth of digging blade” and “narrow spade” may have a separate history, but this is uncertain.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Attested from the 17th century.

Today it means

noun A small shoot or scion of a tree inserted in another tree, the stock of which is to support and nourish it. The two unite and become one tree, but the graft determines the kind of fruit.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- / graft

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