Etymograph

English

hend

Hend comes from Middle English henden ‘to take hold of’, from Proto-Germanic *handijaną ‘to grasp’, and ultimately from *handuz ‘hand’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*handuz‘hand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*handijaną‘to grasp’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*hendan‘take hold of’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500henden‘to take hold of’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1596hend

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*handuz‘hand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*handijaną‘to grasp’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150*hendan‘take hold of’reconstructed
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500henden‘to take hold of’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1596hend

Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto II: “She flew at him like to an hellish feend,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *handuz ‘hand’

hand, 5 more

Today it means

verb To take hold of; to grasp, hold.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *handuz / hend

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