Grab Came From Dutch Sailors
To grab is to seize suddenly. The word entered English from Low German and Dutch seafaring speech.
To grab is to seize something suddenly and roughly. The word arrived in the 1500s from Middle Dutch *grabben*, at a time when Dutch maritime trade was pouring vocabulary into English — *deck*, *skipper*, *yacht*, *cruise*, *smuggle* and *dock* all came the same way. English absorbed the sea from Dutch and the law from French. *Up for grabs* is American, from the 1920s, and *grab bag* is the American name for a lucky dip.
- To seize. *Grab the rope.*
- A sudden snatch. *Made a grab for it.*
- Up for grabs — available to anyone. *Up for grabs.*
- Grab bag — a lucky dip. *A grab bag.*
- Middle Dutch — *grabben*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | grab | Grabbing. |
| Noun | grab | A grab. |
| Past | grabbed | Grabbed. |
| Compound | grab bag | A grab bag. |
| Middle Dutch | grabben | To seize. |
- He grabbed the handrail.Seizing.
- The job is up for grabs.Idiom.
- It came from Dutch.Etymology.
Dutch words English took at sea
- Deck — from *dec*, a covering
- Skipper — from *schipper*, a ship's master
- Yacht — from *jacht*, a hunting ship
- Cruise — from *kruisen*, to cross
- Smuggle — from *smokkelen*
Middle Dutch or Middle Low German *grabben*, to seize, entering English in the 1500s.
Why did so many sea words come from Dutch?
Dutch maritime trade dominated the North Sea in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and English sailors adopted their vocabulary wholesale.
What does up for grabs mean?
Available to whoever takes it. The phrase is American, recorded from the 1920s.