Etymograph

English

stevedore

Stevedore comes from Spanish estibador ‘docker, dockworker, stevedore (UK),…’, from estivar ‘to load’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steyp-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steyp-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*steyposreconstructed
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500stīpō‘to cram, fill, stuff’
  4. Medieval Latin, derivedc. 600–1500stivarepresent active infinitive of stīpō
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentestivar‘to load’
  6. Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentestibador‘docker, dockworker, stevedore (UK), longshoreman (US), wharfie’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1788stevedore

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steyp-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*steyposreconstructed
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500stīpō‘to cram, fill, stuff’
  4. Medieval Latin, derivedc. 600–1500stivarepresent active infinitive of stīpō
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentestivar‘to load’
  6. Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentestibador‘docker, dockworker, stevedore (UK), longshoreman (US), wharfie’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1788stevedore

Earliest quotation: 1788, The Massachusetts Spy, Boston: “Stowadores.”

The story

It is cognate with stiff through Proto-Indo-European. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word was attested in 1788 in the early form stowadore (see the quotations). It was included in the 1st edition of Webster’s Dictionary (1828) as stevedore.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *steyp-

stiff, stipend, stipulation, stubble, stipulate, 6 more

through Proto-Indo-European *steypos

stipe, 3 more

through Medieval Latin stīpō ‘to cram, fill, stuff’

constipation, 2 more

Today it means

noun A dockworker involved in loading and unloading cargo, or in supervising such work.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *steyp- / stevedore

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