English
have
Have comes from Old English habban ‘to have, possess’, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną ‘to have, to hold’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘to seize’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-‘to seize’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*habjaną‘to have, to hold’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*habbjan‘to have’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150habban‘to have, possess’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haven‘to own’
- Englishearliest quotation 1922have
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-‘to seize’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*habjaną‘to have, to hold’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*habbjan‘to have’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150habban‘to have, possess’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haven‘to own’
- Englishearliest quotation 1922have
Earliest quotation: 1922, Virginia Woolf, Richmond: “You're a very naughty boy. If I've told…”
The story
Since there is no common Indo-European root for a transitive possessive verb have (notice that Latin habeō is not etymologically related to English have), Proto-Indo-European probably lacked the have structure. Instead, the third person forms of be were used, with the possessor in dative case, compare Latin mihi est / sunt, literally to me is / are. The nonstandard etymology 1, verb sense 34 (‘to be (an age)’) is a semantic loan from other languages’ term for “to possess, own”, such as French avoir, Polish mieć, and Spanish tener.
Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *kap-
Today it means
verb To possess, own.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kap- / have