Etymograph

English

dint

Dint comes from Middle English dint ‘the landing of a weapon’, from Old English dynt ‘dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰen-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰen-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*duntiz‘a blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*duntireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dynt‘dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dint‘the landing of a weapon’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1560same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰen-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*duntiz‘a blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*duntireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dynt‘dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dint‘the landing of a weapon’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1560same form

Earliest quotation: 1560, The Nynth Boke: “[D]epe wͭ dynt the ſword enforced furſt / had…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- ‘to strike, hit’

ding, 3 more

through Old English dynt ‘dint, blow, strike, stroke, bruise, stripe’

dent, 1 more

Another origin of dint

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰen-‘to strike, hit’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*duntiz‘shock, impact, blow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*duntireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dynt‘blow, strike’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dint‘the landing of a weapon’
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500dinten‘to land a hit on with a weapon’
  7. Englishtodaydint

Today it means

noun Especially in by dint of: force, power.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰen- / dint

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