English
steep
Steep comes from Old English stēap ‘high’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *staupaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staupazreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*staupreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150stēap‘high’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500steep
- Englishearliest quotation 1596same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staupazreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*staupreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150stēap‘high’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500steep
- Englishearliest quotation 1596same form
Earliest quotation: 1596, George Chapman, De Guiana: “Her ears and thoughts in steep amaze erected”.
The story
The Proto-Indo-European root (and related) has many and varied descendants, including English stub; compare also Scots stap (‘to strike, to forcibly insert’). The sense of “sharp slope” is attested circa 1200; the sense “expensive” is attested US 1856.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, stick’
type, stop, stuff, typical, stubborn, stub, timbre, stupendous, timpani, tympanum, 18 more
Another origin of steep
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewb-‘to push, hit’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staupijaną‘to tumble, make tumble, plunge’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350steypa‘to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stepen
- Englishtodaysteep
Today it means
adj Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward or downward at an angle approaching vertical.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *staupaz / steep