Etymograph

English

desk

Desk comes from Middle English deske, from Medieval Latin desca, modified from Old Italian desco, from Latin discus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscus‘discus, quoit’
  2. Old Italianmoderndesco
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500desca
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deske
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1775desk

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscus‘discus, quoit’
  2. Old Italianmoderndesco
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500desca
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deske
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1775desk

Earliest quotation: 1775, Henry VII, The will of king Henry vii [ed. by T. Astle.].: “But also that the said Chapell be desked, and…”

Linked words

through Ancient Greek δίσκος ‘quoit, disc, discus’

disk, discus, discal, 4 more

through Latin discus ‘a discus, quoit’

dish, disc, dais, tish, 4 more

Today it means

noun A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a drawer or repository underneath.

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

Etymograph / Latin discus / desk

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