sneeze

sneeze
\ \ [15] The Old English word for ‘sneeze’ was fnēsan, a distant relative of Greek pneumabreath’ (source of English pneumatic). This survived into Middle English as fnese. The letters f and s were very similar in medieval script, so it could have played a part in the late 15th-century emergence of sneeze. Fnese had largely died out by the early 15th century, and it could well be that when printing got into full swing in the 1490s, with many old manuscript texts being reissued in printed form, printers unfamiliar with the old word fnese assumed it had the much more common initial consonant cluster sn-. Another factor in the equation is the now obsolete verb neezesneeze’. This was borrowed in the 14th century from Old Norse hnósja, a descendant of the Indo-European base *ksneu-, which also produced German niesen, Dutch niezen, Swedish nysa, Danish nyse, and Russian chikhat’sneeze’. It bridged the gap between fnese and sneeze, and the new sneeze no doubt struck people as a more expressive alternative to the old neeze. (Both fnese and neeze go back ultimately to an imitation of the sound of breathing, blowing, or sneezing.)
\ \ Cf.PNEUMATIC

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sneeze — Sneeze, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sneezed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Sneezing}.] [OE. snesen; of uncertain origin; cf. D. snuse to sniff, E. neese, and AS. fne[ o]san.] To emit air, chiefly through the nose, audibly and violently, by a kind of involuntary… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Sneeze — Sneeze, n. A sudden and violent ejection of air with an audible sound, chiefly through the nose. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sneeze — sneeze; sneeze·less; …   English syllables

  • sneeze at — [v] disregard blink at*, brush aside, brush away, brush off, discount, have no use for*, laugh off*, let pass*, look the other way*, overlook, pass over, pay no attention to, pay no heed to, pay no mind*, shut eyes to*, slight, snub, take lightly …   New thesaurus

  • sneeze — ► VERB ▪ make a sudden involuntary expulsion of air from the nose and mouth due to irritation of one s nostrils. ► NOUN ▪ an act or the sound of sneezing. ● not to be sneezed at Cf. ↑not to be sneezed at DERIVATIVES sneezer noun …   English terms dictionary

  • sneeze — [snēz] vi. sneezed, sneezing [ME snesen, prob. echoic alteration of fnesen < OE fneosan: for IE base see PNEUMA] to exhale breath from the nose and mouth in a sudden, involuntary, explosive action, as a result of an irritation of the nasal… …   English World dictionary

  • Sneeze — A sneeze (or sternutation) is a semi autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs, most commonly caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. Sneezing can further be triggered through sudden exposure to bright light, a… …   Wikipedia

  • sneeze — {{11}}sneeze (n.) 1640s, from SNEEZE (Cf. sneeze) (v.). {{12}}sneeze (v.) O.E. fneosan to snort, sneeze, from P.Gmc. *fneusanan (Cf. M.Du. fniesen, Du. fniezen to sneeze; O.N. fnysa to snort; O.N. hnjosa, Swed. nysa to sneeze; O.H.G …   Etymology dictionary

  • sneeze — [15] The Old English word for ‘sneeze’ was fnēsan, a distant relative of Greek pneuma ‘breath’ (source of English pneumatic). This survived into Middle English as fnese. The letters f and s were very similar in medieval script, so it could have… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • sneeze — sneeze1 [sni:z] v [: Old English; Origin: fneosan] 1.) if you sneeze, air suddenly comes from your nose, making a noise, for example when you have a cold ▪ She started coughing and sneezing. ▪ The dust was making him sneeze . 2.) not to be… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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