Etymograph

English

darling

Darling comes from Middle English dereling ‘beloved person’, from Old English dīerling ‘favourite, darling’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz ‘beloved, dear’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*diurijaz‘beloved, dear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*diurijalingazreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*diurilingreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dīerling‘favourite, darling’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dereling‘beloved person’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1546darling

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*diurijaz‘beloved, dear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*diurijalingazreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*diurilingreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dīerling‘favourite, darling’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dereling‘beloved person’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1546darling

Earliest quotation: 1546, John Heywood, The Proverbs of John Heywood. […]: “[I]t is better to be / An old mans…”

Equivalent to dear + -ling

Proto-Germanic *diurijaz ‘dear’

Proto-West Germanic *diurī ‘valuable’

Old English dēore ‘of great value or excellence’

Middle English dere

English dear

The story

The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (‘beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian’), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (‘favourite, darling; minion’), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (‘beloved, dear; expensive’) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (‘hot, warm; to burn’), or *dweh₂- (‘distant, long; to remove, separate’)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’

day, fever, dawn, dearly, daw, dearth, febrile, foment, 18 more

through Proto-Germanic *diurijaz ‘beloved, dear’

dear, 2 more

Today it means

noun Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *diurijaz / darling

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