Etymograph

English

deny

Deny comes from Middle English denyen, from Old French denoier, from Latin dēnegō ‘to deny’ (dē- + negō ‘to refuse’), ultimately from PIE *né ‘not’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*né‘no, not’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegō‘to refuse’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēnegō‘to deny, refuse’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400denoier‘to deny, repudiate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500denyen‘to deny’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596deny

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*né‘no, not’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegō‘to refuse’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēnegō‘to deny, refuse’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400denoier‘to deny, repudiate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500denyen‘to deny’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596deny

Earliest quotation: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “if you deny to dance”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- ‘to say’

negative, negate, adage, prodigious, negation, renegade, renege, 1 more

Today it means

verb To disallow or reject.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *né / deny

Shirt and support for this word