Learn English – Two Opposite Meanings of ‘Cleave’

etymologyvocabulary

I'm interested in how and why the verb cleave has two totally opposite definitions:

Definition I. Split or sever (something)

Definiiton II. Adhere strongly to

The referenced website shows the same etymology for both definitions?

Moreover, how can one manage or differentiate these two definitions, to obviate confusion?

Best Answer

OED does differentiate the etymologies:

s.v. cleave, v.1

  1. a. trans. To part or divide by a cutting blow; to hew asunder; to split.

Etymology: Common Germanic: Old English clíofan, cléofan, past tense cléaf, plural clufon, past participle clofen . . .

s.v. cleave, v.2

  1. To stick fast or adhere, as by a glutinous surface, to . . .

Etymology: Old English had two verbs; clífan strong (* cláf, plural clifon, clifen), and clifian, cleofian weak (clifode, -od ).

Biblically enjoined to “cleave unto his wife,” poor Henry VIII appears indeed to have got sadly confused between these two senses, though curiously not in the case of wife #4.