Etymograph

English

halfdead

Halfdead comes from Old English healfdēad ‘half-dead’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *halbadaudaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halbadaudazreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150healfdēad‘half-dead’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halfdede
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1999halfdead

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*halbadaudazreconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150healfdēad‘half-dead’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500halfdede
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1999halfdead

Earliest quotation: 1999, Patti Massman, Susan Rosser: “But even after he was beyond the danger zone,…”

Formed from half- + dead

Proto-Germanic *halbaz ‘half’

Proto-Germanic *halba-

English half-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰew-

Proto-Germanic *daudaz

Proto-West Germanic *daud

Old English dēad

Middle English ded

English dead

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *halbadaudaz

Today it means

adj Halfway dead; only partially alive.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *halbadaudaz / halfdead

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