Etymograph

English

dormant

Dormant comes from Latin dormiēns ‘sleeping’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *drem-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drem-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dr̥m-yé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dormiō‘to sleep’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdormiō‘to sleep’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdormiēns‘sleeping’present participle of dormiō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1777dormant

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drem-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dr̥m-yé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dormiō‘to sleep’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdormiō‘to sleep’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdormiēns‘sleeping’present participle of dormiō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1777dormant

Earliest quotation: 1777, Edmund Burke, A Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol: “It is by lying dormant a long time, or…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *drem-

syndrome, dromedary, 25 more

through Proto-Italic *dormiō ‘to sleep’

dormer, 4 more

through Latin dormiō ‘to sleep’

dormitory, 3 more

Today it means

adj Inactive, sleeping, asleep, suspended.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *drem- / dormant

Shirt and support for this word