English
damage
Damage comes from Middle English damage, from Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum, from Classical Latin damnum.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnum‘damage, loss’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*damnāticum‘harm’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400damage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘damage, harm’
- Englishearliest quotation 1625same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnum‘damage, loss’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*damnāticum‘harm’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400damage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘damage, harm’
- Englishearliest quotation 1625same form
Earliest quotation: 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Friendship: “Great errors and absurdities many […]commit for want of…”
The story
Largely displaced native Middle English scath (whence unscathed).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- ‘to sacrifice, to lose’
through Proto-Italic *dapnom
condemnation, damning, damnation, 5 more
through Latin damnum ‘damage, injury’
Today it means
noun Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin damnum / damage