Etymologically
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deaf

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English dēaf (about 750, in Cynewulf's Juliana),[2][3][4] from *daubaz,[2][3][4] cognate with Dutch doof, German taub, Old Norse daufr and Gothic daufs, unperceptive.[2][3][4] It goes back to an Indo-European base meaning dark or dulled, also seen in Ancient Greek τυφλός (tuphlós), blind, and Old Irish dub, black;[2][4][5] the ancestor probably referred to a general dullness of perception rather than any one sense.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lacking or defective in hearing: about 825 in the OED;[7] in Old English also empty, barren.[3]

Semantic evolution

Refusing to listen is from about 1200,[3] and the noun use, deaf people, from about 1200 in Etymonline.[3] As deaf as an adder is from Psalm 58,[3][6] and as deaf as a post from the mid-16th century.[6] The word rhymed with reef until the 18th century,[3][4] a pronunciation that survives widely in dialect and in the United States.[4] Deafen is from 1597, in Shakespeare,[2] and deaf-mute from 1837, after French sourd-muet.[3] The capitalized Deaf refers to the community of deaf people with its own culture and sign language.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 750 – dēaf.[2]
  • c. 1200 – refusing to listen.[3]
  • mid-16th century – as deaf as a post.[6]
  • 1597 – deafen.[2]
  • 1837 – deaf-mute.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Partly or completely unable to hear.
  2. Unwilling to listen; heedless: deaf to their cries.
  3. Of or relating to Deaf people and their culture.

Noun

  1. the deaf: deaf people as a group.

Word family

  • deafly
  • deafness
  • deafish
  • deaf-mute
  • deafen
  • deaf-blind
  • stone-deaf
  • tone-deaf

Usage notes

Collins notes that the deaf as a collective noun is often thought offensive, and phrases such as deaf people are preferred.[9]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins