Etymograph

English

grasp

Grasp comes from Old English *grǣpsian ‘to grab, grasp’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- ‘to take, seize, rake’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrebʰ-‘to take, seize, rake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*graipisōnąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*graipisōnreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*grǣpsian‘to grab, grasp’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500graspen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1826grasp

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰrebʰ-‘to take, seize, rake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*graipisōnąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*graipisōnreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*grǣpsian‘to grab, grasp’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500graspen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1826grasp

Earliest quotation: 1826, William Blake, The Tyger: “What the anvil? what dread grasp. Dare its deadly…”

Linked words

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

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

Today it means

verb To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.

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

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

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