Etymograph

English

dew

Dew comes from Proto-West Germanic *dauw ‘moisture’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- ‘smoke, haze’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-‘smoke, haze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dawwaz‘dew, moisture’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dauw‘moisture’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dēaw
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dew
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1593dew

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-‘smoke, haze’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dawwaz‘dew, moisture’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dauw‘moisture’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dēaw
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dew
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1593dew

Earliest quotation: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “the golden dew of sleep”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- ‘smoke, haze’

down, steam, dye, funk, dun, dune, duvet, dag, fume, thymus, obfuscate, fumigation, typhon, 27 more

Another origin of dew

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-‘smoke, haze’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰowh₂-o-muncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dawwąreconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dawwāną‘to bedew’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dauwēn‘to bedew’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150*dēawianreconstructed
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dewe
  8. Englishtodaydew

Today it means

noun Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- / dew

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