English
dai
Dai comes from Hindi दाई ‘midwife, nurse’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁(y)-‘to nurse, suckle’reconstructed
- Proto-Iranianprehistoric (reconstructed)*daHyaka-reconstructed
- Classical Persianc. 900–presentدایهdāya‘nurse, foster-mother’
- Hindic. 1500–presentदाईdāī‘midwife, nurse’
- Englishearliest quotation 1997dai
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁(y)-‘to nurse, suckle’reconstructed
- Proto-Iranianprehistoric (reconstructed)*daHyaka-reconstructed
- Classical Persianc. 900–presentدایهdāya‘nurse, foster-mother’
- Hindic. 1500–presentदाईdāī‘midwife, nurse’
- Englishearliest quotation 1997dai
Earliest quotation: 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold: “Kausalya, she learnt, was his dai, the one who…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- ‘to nurse, suckle’
female, feminist, feminism, doe, fetus, tyre, felicity, femme, femininity, fawn, effeminate, filial, fellatio, fecundity, dahi, 30 more
Today it means
noun A wet nurse; a midwife.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.