death

Pronunciation

• IPA: /deθ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English deeth, inherited from Old English dēaþ,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz,^[2][3][5] formed from the verbal stem *dau- (“to die”) with a suffix of action or condition, the ancestor of -th.^[2][5][6] Etymonline suggests the stem may come from Proto-Indo-European *dheu- (“to die”).^[2] It is related to die and dead,^[2][7][8] and its relatives include Dutch dood, German Tod and Old Norse dauði.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The end of life, the act of dying, the state of being dead, and the cause of death; in the plural, ghosts: Old English dēaþ, about 725, in Beowulf.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Death as a personified agent is recorded from 971 by the OED,^[9] and Etymonline dates the figure of a skeleton as an image of mortality to the late 12th century.^[2] In the late 14th century the word was applied to the end of inanimate things, and to a plague, of the first outbreak of bubonic plague.^[2] The death of a part or tissue of the body is from 1800.^[9] Deathbed meant “the grave” in Beowulf and “the bed one dies in” from about 1300.^[3] Death's door is from the 1540s and death's-head from the 1590s.^[2] Shakespeare used be the death of (1596),^[2] and to death as an intensifier, as in bored to death, dates from the 1610s.^[2] Deathless is from 1598^[3] and deathblow from 1795, replacing Middle English dethes dint.^[3] The slang be death on, “be very good at”, is from 1839.^[2] In Scots the word also had the form deid.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English dēaþ, and deathbed, the grave (Beowulf).^[3]
• 971 – personified Death.^[9]
• c. 1300 – deathbed, the bed one dies in.^[3]
• late 14th century – a plague.^[2]
• 1540s – death's door.^[2]
• 1596 – be the death of (Shakespeare).^[2]
• 1598 – deathless.^[3]
• 1610s – to death as an intensifier.^[2]
• 1795 – deathblow.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of dying; the end of life.
2. The state of being dead.
3. The cause or manner of dying.
4. (often capitalized) The destroyer of life personified, usually shown as a skeleton holding a scythe.
5. Killing; bloodshed or execution.
6. The end or extinction of something.
7. (law) Civil death, the loss of civil rights.

Related words

• die
• dead
• deadly
• deathly

Usage notes

RHWU lists decease, demise, passing and departure as synonyms, and birth and life as opposites.^[10]

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 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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House