Etymograph

English

snath

Snath comes from Middle English snede ‘scythe’, and goes back to Old English snǣd.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150snǣd1‘the shaft or handle of a scythe’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snede1‘scythe’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1997snath1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English snath
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1997, Charles Frazier, London: Hodder and Stoughton: “It felt natural to him, holding a scythe in…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150snǣdWiktionary, English snath‘the shaft or handle of a scythe’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snedeWiktionary, English snath‘scythe’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1997snathWiktionary, English snath. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1997, Charles Frazier, London: Hodder and Stoughton: “It felt natural to him, holding a scythe in…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *snīþaną ‘to cut’

schnitzel, 3 more

through Old English snǣdan ‘to cut, slice’

snead, 1 more

Today it means

noun The shaft of a scythe.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “snath”. 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 / Old English snǣd / snath

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