English
dight
Dight may come from Middle English dighten ‘to ornament, adorn’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dighten‘to ornament, adorn’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1645dight
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dighten‘to ornament, adorn’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1645dight
Earliest quotation: 1645, John Milton: “Right against the eastern gate, / Where the great…”
The story
From Middle English dighten, dihten, (also dyten, from whence dite), from Old English dihtan, dihtian (‘to set in order; dispose; arrange; appoint; direct; compose’), from Proto-West Germanic *dihtōn (‘to compose; invent’), of disputed origin.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Possibly from a derivative of Proto-Germanic *dīkaną (‘to arrange; create; perform’), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵ-, *dʰeyǵʰ- (‘to knead; shape; mold; build’), influenced by Latin dictāre; or perhaps from Latin dictāre (‘to dictate’) itself.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- ‘to point out, to show’
teach, toe, token, indicative, syndicate, paradigm, digit, syndicalism, tache, 40 more
through Proto-Italic *deikō ‘to show, indicate’
interdiction, indexation, 14 more
through Latin dīcō ‘say, speak’
index, indicate, indication, predict, dictionary, dedication, indicator, preach, addict, contradictory, dedicate, contradiction, contradict, predicament, ditto, predicate, diction, dictum, interdict, dict, indicia, 21 more
through Latin dictō ‘to repeat, say often’
Today it means
adj Adorned, decorated, or furnished (with); dressed, arrayed, or decked out.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English dighten / dight