Etymograph

English

nerve

Nerve comes from Medieval Latin nervus, from Proto-Indo-European *snḗh₁wr̥ ‘sinew, tendon’, and ultimately from *(s)neh₁- ‘to spin (thread), to sew’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)neh₁-1‘to spin (thread), to sew’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snḗh₁wr̥2‘sinew, tendon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*(s)nēuros2reconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCE*neuros2reconstructed
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500nervus1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nerve1‘a nerve’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611nerve1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English nerve
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin nervus
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Come on; obey: / Thy nerves are in their…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)neh₁-Wiktionary, English nerve‘to spin (thread), to sew’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snḗh₁wr̥Wiktionary, Latin nervus‘sinew, tendon’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*(s)nēurosWiktionary, Latin nervusreconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCE*neurosWiktionary, Latin nervusreconstructed
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500nervusWiktionary, English nerve
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nerveWiktionary, English nerve‘a nerve’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611nerveWiktionary, English nerve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Come on; obey: / Thy nerves are in their…”

The story

Recorded since circa 1374 as Middle English nerve, from Medieval Latin nervus (‘nerve’), from Latin nervus (‘sinew’). Verb sense 4 (‘to get on (someone’s) nerves’) is chiefly a semantic loan from German nerven.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- ‘to spin (thread), to sew’

needle, nous, adder, nematode, sinew, nematic, 8 more

through Proto-Indo-European *snḗh₁wr̥ ‘sinew, tendon’

neural, neuron, sinewy, 15 more

through Medieval Latin nervus

nervous, 6 more

Today it means

noun A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “nerve”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin nervus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- / nerve

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