English
hew
Hew comes from Old English hēawan ‘to chop, hew, hash, fell wood’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kewh₂-‘to strike, hew, forge’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hawwaną‘to hew, to chop’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hauwan‘to hew, to chop’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hēawan‘to chop, hew, hash, fell wood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hewen
- Englishearliest quotation 1591hew
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kewh₂-‘to strike, hew, forge’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hawwaną‘to hew, to chop’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hauwan‘to hew, to chop’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hēawan‘to chop, hew, hash, fell wood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hewen
- Englishearliest quotation 1591hew
Earliest quotation: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder[…]”
The story
Sense 3 derives from the phrase hew to the line (literally “cut evenly with an axe or saw”).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- ‘to strike, hew, forge’
through Proto-Germanic *hawwaną ‘to hew, to chop’
hay, hog, hoe, hoy, hag, 2 more
through Old English hēawan ‘to chop, hew, hash, fell wood’
Today it means
verb To chop away at; to whittle down; to mow down.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.