Etymologically
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death

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Pronunciation

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.
  • 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