Etymology
1. O.E.
sceawian "to look at, see," from W.Gmc.
*skauwojanan (cf. O.S.
skauwon "to look at," O.Fris.
skawia, Du.
schouwen, O.H.G.
scouwon "to look at;" Du.
schoon, Goth.
skaunjai "beautiful," originally "conspicuous"), from P.Gmc. root
*skau- "behold, look at," from PIE
*skou-, variant of base
*skeue- "to pay attention, perceive" (see caveat). Causal meaning "let be seen, put in sight, make known" evolved c.1200 for unknown reasons and is unique to Eng. (Ger.
schauen still means "look at"). Spelling
shew, popular 18c. and surviving into early 19c., represents obsolete pronunciation (rhymes with
view).
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *skawwōną
5. Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn
6. Old English scēawian
7. Middle English schewen
8. English show
9. From Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”), from Proto-West Germanic *skauwōn, from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną (“to look, see”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- (“to heed, look, feel, take note of”); see haw, gaum, caveat, caution.
10. Cognate with Scots shaw (“to show”), Dutch schouwen (“to inspect, view”), German schauen (“to see, behold”), Danish skue (“to behold”). Related to sheen.
11. Wider cognates include Ancient Greek κῦδος (kûdos), Latin caveō whence English caution and caveat, Sanskrit कवि (kaví, “seer, prophet, bard”), Proto-Slavic *čuti (whence Russian чу́ять (čújatʹ) and many more). See: Middle English '
schewen', Proto-Germanic '
*skawwōną', Scots '
shaw', Dutch '
schouwen', German, old spelling '
schauen', Danish '
skue', Latin '
caveō', English '
caution', Proto-Slavic '
*čuti', Russian '
чу́ять'.
Verbs referencing "show"
English
sheen, Latin
caveo, Polish
czuć, Norwegian, nynorsk
sjå, Tok Pisin soim, Thai
โชว์.