Etymograph

English

demean

Demean comes from Old English ġemǣne ‘mean, common’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *gamainiz ‘shared, communal, public’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gamainiz‘shared, communal, public’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gamainī‘common’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġemǣne‘mean, common’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mene
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1847demean

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gamainiz‘shared, communal, public’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gamainī‘common’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġemǣne‘mean, common’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mene
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1847demean

Earliest quotation: 1847, – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray: “It was, of course, Mrs. Sedley's opinion that her…”

Formed from de- + mean ‘lowly, base, common’

Latin dē ‘of; from’

English de-

Proto-Indo-European *meyn- ‘to think’

Proto-Germanic *mainijaną ‘to mean, think’

Proto-West Germanic *mainijan

Old English mǣnan ‘to mean; to say, relate’

Middle English menen ‘to intend’

English mean

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *gamainiz

Today it means

verb To debase; to lower; to degrade.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *gamainiz / demean

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