Etymology
1. O.E.
giefan (W. Saxon), class V strong verb (past tense
geaf, pp.
giefen), from P.Gmc.
*gebanan (cf. O.Fris.
jeva, M.Du.
gheven, Ger.
geben, Goth.
giban), from PIE
*ghab(h)- "to take, hold, have, give" (see habit). It became
yiven in M.E., but changed to guttural "g" by infl. of O.N.
gefa "to give," O.Dan.
givæ. Meaning "to yield to pressure" is from 1577.
Given "allotted, predestined" (O.E.
giefeðe) also had a n. sense of "fate," reflecting an important concept in pagan Gmc. ideology. The modern sense of "what is given, known facts" is from 1879. To
give (someone) a cold seems to reflect the old belief that one could be cured of disease by deliberately infecting others.
What gives? "what is happening?" is attested from 1940.
Give-and-take (n.) is originally from horse racing (1769) and refers to races in which bigger horses were given more weight to carry, lighter ones less.
Give-away (n.) is from 1872.
2. From Middle English given, yeven, yiven, ȝiven, from merger of Old English ġefan, ġeofan, ġiefan, ġifan, ġiofan, ġyfan (“to give”) and Old Norse gefa (“to give”), from Proto-Germanic *gebaną (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- (“to give; to take”). Displaced yive, from Middle English yiven, of the same origin, from influence of Old Norse gefa.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Yola gee, ye, yie, yive (“to give”), Scots gie (“to give”), North Frisian gjiuwe, iiv, jiiw, jiw, jeewe (“to give”), West Frisian jaan (“to give”), Alemannic German gë (“to give”), Bavarian gebn (“to give”), Central Franconian jevve (“to give”), Cimbrian gem, ghèban (“to give”), Dutch geven (“to give”), German geben (“to give”), Luxembourgish ginn (“to give”), Vilamovian gaon (“to give”), Yiddish געבן (gebn, “to give”), Danish give (“to give”), Elfdalian djävå (“to give”), Faroese geva (“to give”), Icelandic gefa (“to give”), Norwegian Bokmål gi (“to give”), Norwegian Nynorsk gi, giva, gje, gjeva, gjeve (“to give”), Swedish ge, gifva, giva (“to give”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban, “to give”); also Greek κεφάλι (kefáli), κεφαλή (kefalí, “head”), Lithuanian gobti (“cover up; to grab, snatch”), Polish gabać (“to touch; to tap; to accost”), Serbo-Croatian ха̏бати, hȁbati (“to abrade, wear out”), Sanskrit गभस्ति (gabhasti, “shining”). See: Old Norse '
gefa', Scots '
gie', Frisian, Northern 'gjiuwe', Alemannic German '
gë', Dutch '
geven', German, old spelling '
geben', Luxembourgish '
ginn', Wymysorys '
gaon', Danish '
give', Elfdalian '
djävå', Faroese '
geva', Icelandic '
gefa', Norwegian '
gi', Norwegian, nynorsk '
gi', Swedish '
ge', Polish '
gabać'.
Verbs referencing "give"
Sranan
gi, Latin
habeo.