chew: [OE] Chew, and its Germanic relatives German kauen and Dutch kauwen, can be traced back to a prehistoric West Germanic *kewwan. It has relatives in other Indo-European languages, including Latin gingīva ‘gum’ (source of English gingivitis). => gingivitis
Old English ceowan "to bite, gnaw, chew," from West Germanic *keuwwan (cognates: Middle Low German keuwen, Dutch kauwen, Old High German kiuwan, German kauen), from PIE root *gyeu- "to chew" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic živo "to chew," Lithuanian žiaunos "jaws," Persian javidan "to chew").
Figurative sense of "to think over" is from late 14c.; to chew the rag "discusss some matter" is from 1885, apparently originally British army slang. Related: Chewed; chewing. To chew (someone) out (1948) probably is military slang from World War II. Chewing gum is by 1843, American English, originally hardened secretions of the spruce tree.
