dumb

Forms

dumb^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dumb, mute”).^[1][2] The adjective is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌱𐍃 (dumbs), Old Norse dumbr, Old Frisian dumb, Old Saxon dumb and Old High German tumb.^[3][4] In Old Saxon and Old High German it meant stupid.^[4][2]

Its further origin is uncertain.^[3][4] Kroonen derives it from the verb stem *dimban- and takes the first meaning to have been hazy, comparing Norwegian dum (“dumb; soft, mute; unclear”).^[3] Orel sees an expressive formation related to *daubaz (“deaf”), and Holthausen and Köbler also connect it with dēaf.^[4][5][6] Köbler traces it further to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to rise as dust or smoke; darkened”).^[6][7]

Proto-Germanic /u/ was not lowered here, because a nasal followed in the same syllable.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century: dumbe sien gefremed weolere faecne “let the deceitful lips be made dumb” (Psalm 30).^[8][9] The Pastoral Care (890×897) quotes the prophet: Dumbe hundas ne magon beorcan “dumb dogs cannot bark”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth–Toller gives the word for people unable to speak, and as a noun for the dumb whom Christ made to speak; in Ælfric's homilies a man is told Beo ðu dumb oþ ðæt ðæt cild beo acenned “be dumb until the child is born”.^[11] It is also used of the dumb creation and of dumb cattle in the poems, and Ælfric's Grammar calls the mute consonants dumbe, rendering Latin “mutae”.^[11] The laws of Alfred deal with the deeds of dumb men.^[12] Clark Hall and Sweet add the sense silent.^[13][14] In glosses it renders “mutus” and “elinguis”.^[6][11]

The word lived on as Middle English dumb, now English dumb; the ⟨b⟩ has probably been silent since the thirteenth century.^[15][7] Of animals it came to mean without speech and hence without intellect.^[7]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – dumbe sien gefremed “let them be made dumb” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• 890×897 – Dumbe hundas ne magon beorcan in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[10][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – the adjective for Latin “mutus” in the Lindisfarne gloss of Mark and Luke.^[16][9]
• s. x ex. – Beo ðu dumb “be dumb” in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[17][11]
• 13th century – the ⟨b⟩ of the English word probably falls silent.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dumb, mute, unable to speak.^[11][6]
2. silent, speechless.^[13][14]
3. of animals and things: without speech.^[11]
4. (grammar) of consonants: mute.^[11]
5. (as a noun) a dumb person.^[11][1]

Word family

• dumbnes
• ādumbian

Descendants

• Middle English dumb (→ Scots dumb; English dumb)^[1]

Related words

• dēaf

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 29
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 108
4. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 79
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 80
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dumb
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 218
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 56
13. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 90
14. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 67
15. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407