- grave
- {{11}}grave (adj.) 1540s, from M.Fr. grave (14c.), from L. gravis "weighty, serious, heavy, grievous, oppressive," from PIE root *gru- (Cf. Skt. guruh "heavy, weighty, venerable;" Gk. baros "weight," barys "heavy in weight," often with the notion of "strength, force;" O.E. cweorn "quern;" Goth. kaurus "heavy;" Lettish gruts "heavy"). Greek barys (opposed to kouphos) also was used figuratively, of suffering, sorrow, sobbing, and could mean "oppressive, burdensome, grave, dignified, impressive." The noun meaning "accent mark over a vowel" is c.1600, from French.{{12}}grave (n.) O.E. græf "grave, ditch, cave," from P.Gmc. *graban (Cf. O.S. graf, O.Fris. gref, O.H.G. grab "grave, tomb;" O.N. gröf "cave," Goth. graba "ditch"), from PIE root *ghrebh- "to dig, to scratch, to scrape" (Cf. O.C.S. grobu "grave, tomb"); related to grafan "to dig" (see GRAVE (Cf. grave) (v.))."The normal mod. representation of OE. græf would be graff; the ME. disyllable grave, from which the standard mod. form descends, was prob. due to the especially frequent occurrence of the word in the dat. (locative) case. [OED]From Middle Ages to 17c., they were temporary, crudely marked repositories from which the bones were removed to ossuaries after some years and the grave used for a fresh burial. "Perpetual graves" became common from c.1650. To make (someone) turn in his grave "behave in some way that would have offended the dead person" is first recorded 1888.{{12}}grave (v.) "to engrave," O.E. grafan (medial -f- pronounced as "v" in O.E.; p.t. grof, pp. grafen) "to dig, carve, dig up," from P.Gmc. *grabanan (Cf. O.N. grafa, O.Fris. greva, Du. graven, O.H.G. graban, Ger. graben, Goth. graban "to dig, carve"), from the same source as GRAVE (Cf. grave) (n.). Its M.E. strong pp., GRAVEN (Cf. graven), is the only part still active, the rest of the word supplanted by its derivative, ENGRAVE (Cf. engrave).
Etymology dictionary. 2014.