Etymology
1. O.E.
etan (class V strong verb; past tense
æt, pp.
eten), from P.Gmc.
*etanan (cf. O.N.
eta, Goth.
itan, Ger.
essen), from PIE base
*ed- "to eat" (see edible). Transf. sense of "slow, gradual corrosion or destruction" is from 1555. Meaning "to preoccupy, engross" (as in
what's eating you?) first recorded 1893. Slang sexual sense of "do cunnilingus on" is first recorded 1927.
Eat out "dine away from home" is from 1933;
eatery "restaurant" is from 1901;
eats (n.) "food" is considered colloquial, but it was present in O.E. The slang phrase to
eat one's words is from 1571; to
eat one's heart out is from 1596; for
eat one's hat, see hat.
2. From Middle English eten, from Old English etan (“to eat”), from Proto-West Germanic *etan, from Proto-Germanic *etaną (“to eat”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti, from *h₁ed- (“to eat”).
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Scots ait (“to eat”), Yola ayth, eight (“to eat”), North Frisian iidj, iit, ää'e, ääre, ääse (“to eat”), Saterland Frisian iete, íete (“to eat”), West Frisian ite (“to eat”), Alemannic German asse, assu, essen, ässe, ässä (“to eat”), Bavarian eisn, essn, èssn (“to eat”), Cimbrian èssan, èzzan (“to eat”), Dutch and Low German eten (“to eat”), German essen (“to eat”), Luxembourgish iessen (“to eat”), Mòcheno èssn (“to eat”), Vilamovian aosa (“to eat”), Yiddish עסן (esn, “to eat”), Danish æde (“to eat”), Elfdalian jätå (“to eat”), Faroese eta (“to eat”), Icelandic eta, éta (“to eat”), Norwegian Bokmål ete (“to eat”), Norwegian Nynorsk eta, ete, åtå (“to eat”), Swedish äta (“to eat”), Gothic 𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (itan, “to eat”). See: Middle English '
eten', Old English '
etan', Proto-Germanic '
*etaną', Proto-Indo-European '
*h₁édti', Scots '
ait', Frisian, Saterlandic 'iete', Alemannic German '
asse', Cimbrian 'èssan', German, old spelling '
essen', Luxembourgish '
iessen', Wymysorys '
aosa', Danish '
æde', Elfdalian '
jätå', Faroese '
eta', Icelandic '
eta', Norwegian '
ete', Norwegian, nynorsk '
eta', Swedish '
äta'.
Verbs referencing "eat"
Norwegian, nynorsk
eta, Latin
edo, German, Pennsylvania
esse, Low Saxon eten, German, old spelling
essen, Lithuanian
ėsti, Latvian
ēst, Sanskrit
अत्ति, Luxembourgish
iessen, Danish
æde, Alemannic German
ässe, Cimbrian èzzan, Cimbrian èssan.