Etymology
1. O.E.
ecg "corner, edge," also "sword," from P.Gmc.
*agjo (cf. O.N.
egg, see
egg (v.); Ger.
Eck "corner"), from PIE base
*ak- "sharp, pointed" (cf. L.
acies, Gk.
akis "point;" see acrid). Spelling development of O.E.
-cg to M.E.
-gg to Mod.E.
-dge represents a widespread shift in pronunciation. Verb meaning "to move edgeways (with the edge toward the spectator), advance slowly" is first recorded 1624, originally nautical. The verb meaning "urge on, incite" (16c.) is usually a mistake for egg (v.).
Edge-ways "turned on edge" is from 1566.
Edgy "tense and irritable" is attested from 1837. To
get the edge on (someone) is U.S. colloquial, first recorded 1911.
Edge city is from Joel Garreau's 1992 book of that name.
Razor's edge as a perilous narrow path translates Gk.
epi xyrou akmes. "As if it were possible for any of us to slide in a word edgewise" [Miss Mitford, 1824].
2. From Middle English egge, from Old English eċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *aggju, from Proto-Germanic *agjō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).
3. See also Dutch egge, German Ecke, Danish æg, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish egg; also Welsh hogi (“to sharpen, hone”), Latin aciēs (“sharp”), acus (“needle”), Latvian ašs, ass (“sharp”), Ancient Greek ἀκίς (akís, “needle”), ἀκμή (akmḗ, “point”), and Persian آس (âs, “grinding stone”)). See: Welsh '
hogi'.
Verbs referencing "edge"
Swedish
egga.