English
sadness
Sadness comes from Middle English sadnesse ‘denseness, solidness, hardness’, and goes back to sad.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sad
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sadnesse‘denseness, solidness, hardness’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1602sadness
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sad
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sadnesse‘denseness, solidness, hardness’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1602sadness
Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness Is…”
Formed from sad + -ness
Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- ‘to satiate, satisfy’
…
Proto-Germanic *sadaz ‘full, sated’
Proto-West Germanic *sad ‘sated, full’
Old English sæd ‘satisfied, sated, weary’
Middle English sad ‘sated’
English sad
Linked words
through Middle English sad
Today it means
noun The state or emotion of being sad.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English sad / sadness