English
jaw
Jaw may come from Middle English jawe/jowe.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500jawe/joweuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1748jaw
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500jawe/joweuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1748jaw
Earliest quotation: 1748, Tobias Smollett: “[…] he waked him, which put him in a…”
The story
It is also conceivable that the word is a merger of two coincidentally similar sources. Gradually displaced Middle English chavel (from Old English ċeafl).
Linked words
through Anglo-Norman jowe ‘cheek’
Today it means
noun One of the bones, usually bearing teeth, which form the framework of the mouth.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English jawe/jowe / jaw