Etymograph

English

dey

Dey comes from Middle English deye ‘a dairymaid’, from Old English dǣġe ‘maker of bread’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- ‘to knead, form, build’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeyǵʰ-‘to knead, form, build’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*daigijǭ‘kneader of bread, maid’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*daigijāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dǣġe‘maker of bread’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deye‘a dairymaid’
  6. Englishtodaydey

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeyǵʰ-‘to knead, form, build’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*daigijǭ‘kneader of bread, maid’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*daigijāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dǣġe‘maker of bread’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500deye‘a dairymaid’
  6. Englishtodaydey

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- ‘to knead, form, build’

figure, fiction, paradise, dairy, dough, faint, fictitious, effigy, feign, figment, feint, 26 more

through Old English dǣġe ‘maker of bread’

lady

through Middle English deye ‘a dairymaid’

dye

Another origin of dey

  1. Proto-Turkicprehistoric (reconstructed)*tāyreconstructed
  2. Ottoman Turkishc. 1300–1928دایی‘maternal uncle, the brother of one's mother, thus a second-degree relative’
  3. Algerian Arabicmodernداي
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentdey
  5. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of dey

  1. Tamilmodernடேய்-‘hey!’
  2. Englishtodaydey

Today it means

noun A servant who has charge of the dairy; a dairymaid.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- / dey

Shirt and support for this word