Etymology
1. O.E.
hebban "to lift, raise" (class VI strong verb; past tense
hof, pp.
hafen), from P.Gmc.
*khafjanan (cf. O.N.
hefja, Du.
heffen, Ger.
heben, Goth.
hafjan), from PIE
*kap- "seize;" related to O.E.
habban "to hold, possess." Sense of "retch, make an effort to vomit" is first attested 1601. Nautical
heave-ho was a chant in lifting.
2. From Middle English heven, hebben, from Old English hebban, from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to take up, lift”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti, from the root *kap-. See also have.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with West Frisian heffe, Dutch heffen ("to raise", "to lift"), German heben ("to raise", "to lift"), Danish hæve ("to raise", "to lift"), Albanian kap (“to grasp, seize”), Old Irish cáin (“law, tribute”), cacht (“prisoner”), Latin capiō (“to take”), Latvian kàmpt (“to seize”), Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), κώπη (kṓpē, “handle”)).
5. (To lift, to raise): Compare typologically Russian поднима́ть (podnimátʹ), подня́ть (podnjátʹ) (akin to има́ть (imátʹ), име́ть (imétʹ) < Proto-Slavic *jьmati, *jьměti). See: Middle English '
heven', Old English '
hebban', Proto-Germanic '
*habjaną', Proto-Indo-European '
*kapyéti', Dutch '
heffen', German, old spelling '
heben', Danish '
hæve', Albanian '
kap', Latin '
capiō'.
Verbs referencing "heave"
English
havoc, Danish
hive, Norwegian, nynorsk
hive, German, old spelling
heben, Icelandic
hefja, Norwegian, nynorsk
hevja, Danish
hæve, Finnish with old forms
heivata, German, old spelling
hieven, German, Pennsylvania
hewe, Swedish
häva, Luxembourgish
hiewen, Norwegian, nynorsk
hiva, Swedish
hiva, Norwegian, nynorsk
heve, Norwegian, nynorsk
heva, Cimbrian höoban, Norwegian, nynorsk
hevje.