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Apr 3, 2013 · The main Germanic word for “thief” is old. Gothic had þiufs (spelled þiubs ), and with Gothic we are in the fourth century CE. The other related languages had similar forms, none of which resembles any non-Germanic word designating a person who steals.
- Monthly Etymological Gleanings for April 2013
By Anatoly Liberman Thief again. One comment on thief...
- Monthly Etymological Gleanings for April 2013
Mar 22, 2024 · thief. (n.) Old English þeof "one who takes property from another by stealth; a robber," from Proto-Germanic *theuba- (source also of Old Frisian thiaf, Old Saxon thiof, Middle Dutch and Dutch dief, Old High German diob, German dieb, Old Norse þiofr, Gothic þiufs), a word of uncertain origin.
when thieves fall out, honest men come by their own proverbial saying, mid 16th century; meaning that it is through thieves quarrelling over their stolen goods that they are likely to be caught, and the goods recovered.
What does the noun thief mean? There are 11 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun thief , two of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
Oct 29, 1992 · The earliest known mention of the word is in a Spanish document dating to 1629, says David Brugge, a retired National Park Service archeologist and anthropologist who has excavated many early...
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the meaning of a famous proverb – and its origins in a work of literature ‘Procrastination is the thief of time’.
OED's earliest evidence for thief is from 1836, in the writing of William Simms, poet, novelist, and historian. It is also recorded as a noun from the Old English period (pre-1150). thief is formed within English, by derivation.
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