Etymograph

English

dream

Dream comes from Middle English dream, from Old English drēam ‘joy, music’, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, ultimately from PIE *dʰrewgʰ- ‘to deceive’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrewgʰ-‘to deceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrowgʰ-mosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*draugmazreconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*draumaz‘dream’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*draumreconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150drēam‘joy; music’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dream
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrewgʰ-‘to deceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrowgʰ-mosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*draugmazreconstructed
  4. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*draumaz‘dream’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*draumreconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150drēam‘joy; music’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dream
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,…”

The story

The sense of "dream", though not attested in Old English, may still have been present (compare Old Saxon drōm (‘bustle, revelry, jubilation", also "dream’)), and was undoubtedly reinforced later in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (‘dream’), from same Proto-Germanic root.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- ‘to deceive’

drug, fraud, drain, drudge, truculent, 17 more

Today it means

noun Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- / dream

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