Etymograph

English

hide

Hide comes from Old English hȳdan, from Proto-Germanic *huzdijaną ‘to hoard’, from *huzdą ‘treasure’, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- ‘to cover’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewH-‘to cover’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewdʰ-‘to cover’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdą‘treasure, hoard’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdijaną‘to hoard’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*huʀdijan‘to conceal’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150hȳdan‘to hide’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hiden‘to conceal’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2013hide

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewH-‘to cover’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewdʰ-‘to cover’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdą‘treasure, hoard’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*huzdijaną‘to hoard’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*huʀdijan‘to conceal’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150hȳdan‘to hide’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hiden‘to conceal’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2013hide

Earliest quotation: 2013, Timothy Garton Ash, Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli: “Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of…”

The story

The verb was originally weak. In the King James Version of the Bible (1611), both hid and hidden are used for the past participle.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- ‘to cover’

house, sky, hose, scum, shun, cystic, hutch, 10 more

Another origin of hide

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewH-‘to cover, conceal, hide’root as named
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéw(H)tis‘skin, hide’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hūdiz‘skin, hide’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hūdi‘skin, hide’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150hȳd‘skin, hide’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hyde‘human skin’
  7. Englishtodayhide

Another origin of hide

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-‘to lie with, store, be familiar’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hīwazreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hīd‘a measure of land’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hide
  5. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

verb To put (something) in a place where it will be out of sight or harder to discover.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- / hide