Etymograph

English

hoist

Hoist comes from English hoise ‘to hoist’.

  1. English1500–presenthoise‘to hoist’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602hoist

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. English1500–presenthoise‘to hoist’
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602hoist

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: “For tis the ſport to haue the enginer /…”

The story

Alteration of earlier hoise (‘to hoist’), apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen (‘to hoist’). Portuguese içar (‘to hoist’), Sicilian jisari (‘to hoist’), all borrowed from a Germanic source.

Every English word from English hoise

Today it means

verb To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).

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

Etymograph / English hoise / hoist

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