Etymograph

English

pike

Pike comes from Old English pīc ‘pointed object, pick axe’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *pīkaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pīkaz‘sharp point, pike, pickaxe, peak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pīk‘sharp point, pike’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pic‘sharp point, spike’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150pīc‘pointed object, pick axe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pyke
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1558–1602pike

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pīkaz‘sharp point, pike, pickaxe, peak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pīk‘sharp point, pike’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pic‘sharp point, spike’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150pīc‘pointed object, pick axe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pyke
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1558–1602pike

Earliest quotation: c. 1558–1602, Ralph Rabbards, Ludus Conventriæ. A Collection of Mysteries: “An arme pike which a weake man maye use…”

The story

From Middle English pyke, pyk, pik, pike (‘pike; sharp point, iron tip of a staff or spear, pointed toe of an item of footwear; sharp tool; mountain, peak’), from Old English pīc (‘pointed object, pick axe’), and Middle French pique (‘long thrusting weapon’), from Old French pic (‘sharp point, spike’); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz, *pīkō (‘sharp point, pike, peak’), related to pick with a narrower meaning. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch pecke, peke, picke (modern Dutch piek), German Pike, Norwegian pik, Danish pig, and possibly Old Irish pīk. It is a doublet of pique. The diving or gymnastics position is probably from tapered appearance of the body when the position is executed.

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *pīk ‘sharp point, pike’

pickaxe

through Old English pīc ‘pointed object, pick axe’

peak, pitch

through Middle English pyke

pickerel

Today it means

noun A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *pīkaz / pike

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