English

indelve

Indelve comes from Middle English indelven ‘to bury’.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1959, Traffic Service Corporation: “Although this port brings out that there are known…”

Formed from in- + delve

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰelbʰ- ‘to dig’

Proto-Germanic *delbaną ‘to dig’

Proto-West Germanic *delban

Old English delfan ‘to dig, dig out, burrow, bury’

Middle English delven ‘to retrieve or access via digging’

English delve

Every English word from Middle English indelven

verb To bury.

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