Etymograph

English

reeve

Reeve comes from Middle English reve ‘a reeve or bailiff’, from Old English rēfa ‘prefect’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p- ‘to seize, pluck’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁p-1‘to seize, pluck’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rēfaną1uncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ga-1‘used as an intensifier for verbs, indicating completeness or perfectivity’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*garāfijō2‘officer, official’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150rēfa2‘prefect’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500reve2‘a reeve or bailiff’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1936reeve2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English reeve
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, The Periodical, Oxford University Press: “A list of new titles was manufactured as follows:…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁p-Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō‘to seize, pluck’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rēfanąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *garāfijōuncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ga-Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō‘used as an intensifier for verbs, indicating completeness or perfectivity’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*garāfijōWiktionary, English reeve‘officer, official’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150rēfaWiktionary, English reeve‘prefect’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500reveWiktionary, English reeve‘a reeve or bailiff’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1936reeveWiktionary, English reeve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, The Periodical, Oxford University Press: “A list of new titles was manufactured as follows:…”

The story

The role, and eventually the word, was mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁p- ‘to seize, pluck’

rape, rapid, raptor, ravine, repent, rapture, rapt, rapacious, surreptitious, 13 more

through Proto-West Germanic *ga- ‘used as an intensifier for verbs, indicating…’

graff, limbed

through Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō ‘officer, official’

grave, graf, 1 more

Another origin of reeve

  1. Dutchc. 1500–presentreven‘to take in, insert’
  2. Englishtodayreeve

Today it means

noun Any of several local officials, with varying responsibilities.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “reeve”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō. 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 *h₁reh₁p- / reeve

Shirt and support for this word