English
halve
Halve comes from Proto-West Germanic *halbijan ‘to halve, to cut in half’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *halbaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halbaz‘half’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halbijaną‘to halve’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halbijan‘to halve, to cut in half’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hilfan
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halven
- Englishearliest quotation 1855halve
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halbaz‘half’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halbijaną‘to halve’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halbijan‘to halve, to cut in half’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hilfan
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halven
- Englishearliest quotation 1855halve
Earliest quotation: 1855, Matthew Arnold: “So far apart their lives are thrown / From…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- ‘to cut’
skill, shell, shield, skull, shilling, shale, schilling, shoal, halter, schelling, shelve, 14 more
through Proto-Germanic *halbaz ‘half’
Today it means
verb To reduce to half the original amount.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *halbaz / halve