English
haven
Haven comes from Middle English haven, and goes back to Old English hæfen.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hæfen
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haven
- Englishearliest quotation 1842same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hæfen
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500haven
- Englishearliest quotation 1842same form
Earliest quotation: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, "Break, break, break,": “And the stately ships go on / To their…”
The story
From Middle English haven, havene, from Old English hæfen (‘haven; harbour; port’), either from Proto-West Germanic *habanu or Old Norse hǫfn, from Proto-Germanic *habnō, *habanō (compare Dutch haven, German Hafen, Norwegian/Danish havn, Swedish hamn, French havre), from Proto-Germanic *habą (‘sea’) (compare Old English hæf, Middle Low German haf, Old Norse haf (‘sea’), German Haff (‘bay or lagoon behind a spit’), perhaps, in the sense of "heaving sea", etymologically identical with Old Norse haf (‘heaving, lifting, uplift, elevation’), derived from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (‘to lift, heave’)), or from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pnós (compare Old Irish cúan (‘harbor, recess, haven’)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘to seize’
had, case, head, except, capital, cash, captain, catch, accept, capacity, heavy, escape, capable, receive, cable, capture, chapter, achieve, cape, heavily, behavior, chef, recipe, reception, occupation, perception, cattle, chase, cabin, capitol, capita, chapel, anticipation, recipient, anticipate, caption, capsule, susceptible, deception, precipitation, 177 more
through Old Norse hǫfn
Today it means
noun A harbour or anchorage protected from the sea.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English hæfen / haven