does anyone know the origin of the phrase "Lend a hand"? I'm working on a paper about phrases and idioms and can't seem to find any history about it.
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Unfortunately I can't find a Youtube of the classic "give me a hand" scene from Get Smart.– Hot LicksCommented Jun 27, 2019 at 16:56
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1Using lend instead of give has been part of English since the year dot (I doubt Shakespeare's Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears was linguistically groundbreaking). So you might as well ask who first used Give me a hand to mean Help me. Or who first thought to call their female helper a handmaiden.– FumbleFingersCommented Jun 27, 2019 at 17:08
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See here: phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/40/messages/367.html– user 66974Commented Jun 27, 2019 at 17:11
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It could be literal when someone has fallen, needs rescuing, is stuck, can't lift something, etc. and needs physical help from your hand. In fact, people are often known as hands, for example the crew on a ship. A factory might be "short-handed" due to sickness.– Weather VaneCommented Jun 27, 2019 at 17:44
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When you give someone something it is a permanent transaction and to "give your hand" to someone is to marry them. When you lend something to someone it is a temporary transaction so when you "lend someone a hand" you are giving them the use of your hand (and the rest of your body and mind to which the hand is attached) on a temporary basis, usually until a specific task has been completed.– BoldBenCommented Jun 27, 2019 at 23:15
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3 Answers
lend a hand OED
e. To afford the use or support of (a part of the body); esp. in to lend a hand (or a helping hand)), to render assistance, assist, help.
The OED cites early usage here:
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes The retainer doth some seruice, that now and then..lendes a hande ouer a stile.
In the literal sense of "offering one's hand" (e.g. to "shake" on an agreement) the phrase "lend a hand" appears in Chaucer's Knight's Tale (c1385):
Lene me youre hond, for this is oure accord.
Chaucer also uses the verb in Troilus and Criseyde:
And to Pandarus vois he lente his ere.
It's the verb lenen, to give, to offer, among other meanings, which sometimes appears as "lenden/lenten", sometimes "lenen".
The attestation in the OED from Florio's A Worlde of Wordes (1598), appears to me to be the literal meaning of "hand", not the figurative "assistance":
The retainer doth some service, that now and then but holds your Honors styrrop, or lendes a hande over a stile, or opens a gappe for easier passage, or holds a torch in a darke-waie...
Lend a Hand was the motto for Brownies(Girl Guide Movement) back in England in the 4o's and 50's when I was a Brownie. It inspired us to look for ways to make a situation better for someone in need.
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1The existing answer says that the expression existed 350 years earlier than you suggest. Commented Nov 24, 2023 at 22:43
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