Etymograph

English

dart

Dart comes from Old French dart ‘spear, javelin’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- ‘to leap, spring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰerh₃-‘to leap, spring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*darōþuz‘dart, spear’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*darōþu‘dart, spear’reconstructed
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500dardus‘spear’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dart‘spear, javelin’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a hand-thrown spear or missile’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1769same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰerh₃-‘to leap, spring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*darōþuz‘dart, spear’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*darōþu‘dart, spear’reconstructed
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500dardus‘spear’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dart‘spear, javelin’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a hand-thrown spear or missile’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1769same form

Earliest quotation: 1769, Oxford Standard Text, King James Bible: “Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- ‘to leap, spring’

dere, 3 more

through Old French dart ‘spear, javelin’

dace, 3 more

Another origin of dart

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dart
  2. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500darten‘to puncture or impale with projectiles’
  3. Englishtodaydart

Today it means

noun A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- / dart

Shirt and support for this word