dark

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɑːk/, US /dɑːrk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English derk, inherited from Old English deorc (“without light; gloomy; sinister, wicked”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *derkaz,^[2][3] the source also of Old High German tarchanjan (“to hide, conceal”),^[2][5][6] of uncertain etymology.^[2] Barnhart and Klein compare Middle Irish derg “red” and Lithuanian darga “rainy weather”,^[3][5] and Word Origins calls the origins mysterious, suggesting a link with German tarnen “to conceal”.^[7] The noun is from the adjective,^[2][8] and the verb is Old English deorcian (“to grow dim”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English deorc: about 725, in Beowulf.^[3] Middle English dork, derk is from about 1200.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Figuratively Old English deorc already meant “sad, cheerless; sinister, wicked”.^[2] “Obscure, not easily understood” is from the early 13th century,^[2] and the noun, the absence of light, night-time, from the same time.^[2][3] Of complexion, “not fair”, it is from the early 14th century, and of colours, “approaching black”, from the late 14th century.^[2][9] “Concealed, secret” is from the late 14th century, and in the dark then meant “in secrecy”.^[2] “In a state of ignorance” is from the 1670s,^[2] and to keep someone in the dark from the early 17th century.^[7] “Sullen, sad” is from the 1590s.^[2] A dark room was formerly thought a proper place to confine a madman, from 1590.^[9] Dark horse is from 1831,^[3] Dark Continent for Africa from 1828,^[2] and Dark Ages from 1876, earlier dark ages from 1748.^[3] A theatre that is closed is dark in theatre slang.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 725 – without light.^[3]
• early 13th century – obscure; noun, darkness.^[2]
• early 14th century – of complexion.^[2]
• late 14th century – of colour; secret.^[2]
• 1590s – sullen.^[2]
• 1670s – in the dark, ignorant.^[2]
• 1828 – Dark Continent.^[2]
• 1831 – dark horse.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. With little or no light.
2. Of a colour, deep and close to black; of hair or skin, brown or black.
3. Gloomy or sad; sinister or evil.
4. Hidden or secret; hard to understand.
5. Of a theatre, closed.

Noun

1. The absence of light; darkness.
2. Night or nightfall: after dark.

Word family

• darkish
• darkly
• darkness

Related words

• darken
• darkling

Usage notes

Dark night of the soul comes from the title of a poem by St John of the Cross, Noche oscura, rendered by a Victorian translator as “Dark Night of the Soul”.^[7] F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in 1936 that “in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning”.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press