Etymograph

English

vives

Vives comes from Old French vives, from Arabic ذِئْبَة ‘the disease vives’, and ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ḏiʔb- ‘wolf’.

  1. Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*ḏiʔb-‘wolf’reconstructed
  2. Arabicc. 500–presentذِئْبḏiʔb‘wolf’
  3. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentـَة-a‘used to form feminine adjectives from masculine adjectives’
  4. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentذِئْبَة‘the disease vives’literally ‘she-wolf’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vives
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1816same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*ḏiʔb-‘wolf’reconstructed
  2. Arabicc. 500–presentذِئْبḏiʔb‘wolf’
  3. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentـَة-a‘used to form feminine adjectives from masculine adjectives’
  4. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentذِئْبَة‘the disease vives’literally ‘she-wolf’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vives
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1816same form

Earliest quotation: 1816, Richard Lawrence, The complete farrier: “The Vives, like the strangles, is most incident to…”

The story

From Old French vives, French avives (compare Spanish abivas), from Arabic ذِئْبَة (ḏiʔba, literally “she-wolf”).

Every English word from Proto-Semitic *ḏiʔb-

Today it means

noun A disease of animals, especially horses, based in the glands under the ear, where a tumour is formed which sometimes ends in suppuration.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Semitic *ḏiʔb- / vives

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