she | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

266 entries found.

mid-12c., probably evolving from Old English seo, sio (accusative sie), fem. of demonstrative pronoun (masc. se) "the," from PIE root *so- "this, that" (see the). The Old English word for "she" was heo, hio, however by 13c. the pronunciation of this had converged by phonetic evolution with he "he," which apparently led to the fem. demonstrative pronoun being used in place of the pronoun (compare similar development in Dutch zij, German sie, Greek he, etc.). The original h- survives in her. A relic of the Old English pronoun is in Manchester-area dialectal oo "she." As a noun meaning "a female," she is attested from 1530s.

she-devil (n.)

"difficult woman," 1840, from she + devil (n.). Deviless "female devil" is from 1640s.

she-male (n.)

early 19c. U.S. colloquial, "a female, a woman," from she + male.

Davy Crockett's hand would be sure to shake if his iron was pointed within a hundred miles of a shemale. ["Treasury of American Folklore"]

This became obsolete, and by 1972 it had been recoined (disparagingly) for "masculine lesbian." The sense of "transsexual male" seems to date from c. 1984.

s/he (pron.)

artificial genderless pronoun, attested from 1977; from he + she.

her (possessive case)

Old English hire, third person singular feminine genitive form of heo "she" (see she). With absolute form hers.

he (pron.)

Old English he, pronoun of the third person (see paradigm of Old English third person pronoun below), from Proto-Germanic *hi- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch he, hi, Dutch hy, Old High German he), from PIE *ki-, variant of root *ko-, the "this, here" (as opposed to "that, there") root, and thus the source of the third person pronouns in Old English. The feminine, hio, was replaced in early Middle English by forms from other stems (see she), while the h- wore off Old English neuter hit to make modern it. The Proto-Germanic root also is the source of the first element in German heute "today," literally "the day" (compare Old English heodæg).

The paradigm in Old English was: MASCULINE SINGULAR: he (nominative), hine (accusative), his (genitive), him (dative); FEMININE SINGULAR: heo, hio (nom.), hie, hi (acc.), hire (gen. and dat.); NEUTER SINGULAR: hit (nom. and acc.), his (gen.), him (dat.); PLURAL: (all genders) hie, hi (nom. and acc.), hira, heora (gen.), him, heom (dat.).

Pleonastic use with the noun ("Mistah Kurtz, he dead") is attested from late Old English. With animal words, meaning "male" (he-goat, etc.) from c. 1300.

Capella

bright northern star (fifth brightest in the heavens), the alpha of the constellation Auriga, by 17c., from Latin capella, literally "little she-goat" (Greek kinesai kheimonas), diminutive of capra "she-goat," fem. of caper "goat" (see cab).

asine (n.)

"she-ass," 1530s, from French asine (Old French asin), from Latin asina (see ass (n.1)).

Maia

Roman goddess of fertility, Latin Maia, literally "she who brings increase," from PIE *mag-ya- "she who is great" (suffixed form of root *meg- "great"). Maia, one of the Pleiades, is from Greek Maia, daughter of Atlas, mother of Hermes, literally "mother, good mother, dame; foster-mother, nurse, midwife," said by Watkins to be from infant babbling (see mamma).

high-wire (n.)

"tightrope," 1895, from high (adj.) + wire (n.).

I looked in at the Alhambra the other night, and found an excellent show, notably, a high-wire act by Mdlle. Virginia Aragon. A very handsome Spaniard with coal-black tresses, she does her work with great neatness. The best thing she does is to kneel on the wire, and, leaning forward, pick up with her teeth from between her knees, a handkerchief. Then she swings on the wire, balancing herself with one foot only. Altogether, she is the smartest wire-walker I've seen for many a day. Her sister, by the way, is a trapezist and figured at the Empire not long ago. [The Sketch, Nov. 27, 1895]

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