English
take
Take comes from Middle English taken ‘to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike’, and goes back to Old English tacan.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tacan‘to grasp’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500taken‘to take’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526take
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tacan‘to grasp’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500taken‘to take’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526take
Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Jeſus perceaved there wylynes ãd ſayde: Why tempte ye…”
The story
Both from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (‘to touch’), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (‘to touch’), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *te-th₂g- (‘to touch, take’) (see there for details). Gradually displaced native English nim, from Middle English nimen, from Old English niman (‘to take’).
Linked words
through Old Norse taka ‘to touch, take’
Today it means
verb To get into one's hands, possession, or control, with or without force.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English tacan / take