deem

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English demen,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English dēman (“to judge, condemn, think, consider”),^[2][6][5] inherited from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną,^[2][7][8] a verb derived from *dōmaz (“judgement”), the source of doom.^{[7][9][10][2]} Its cognates are Old Frisian dēma, Old Saxon ādōmian, Middle Dutch doemen, Old Norse dœma, Old High German tuomen and Gothic 𐌳𐍉𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (dōmjan, “to judge, deem”).^[2][9][7][5] Etymonline and Köbler trace the Germanic noun to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give judgement, to act as a judge: in Old English, in the Vespasian Psalter.^[9] Old English dēman already also meant to think or consider,^[6][2] and the Corpus Glossary uses it to gloss Latin censeo, "I am of the opinion".^[9]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant both "pronounce judgement" and "form an opinion" from the start.^[2] The judicial senses, to judge a person or cause, to sentence or condemn, and to decree or award, were in use until about 1600;^[9][11] "to administer the law" survived only as an archaism, recorded as late as 1887.^[9][4] Old English poetry also used it for proclaiming or praising, a sense found until 1547, and Old Norse dœma could likewise mean "to talk" in poetry.^[9][7] The sense "to judge, think, consider", with an object and complement ("deem oneself mad"), is recorded from the Ancrene Riwle (about 1225), and became the ordinary current meaning.^[9] Shakespeare used a noun deem, judgement or surmise (1609, Troilus and Cressida), which Johnson (1755) marked as no longer in use.^[9][12] Judges called deemsters were once common in England and Scotland; the title survives for the two judges of the Isle of Man, and in the surname Dempster.^[2][10][13] In Scots and Yorkshire dialect deem still meant to give judgement or condemn, as in the Scottish proverb Ill deem'd half hang'd, recorded in 1721.^[14]

Timeline

• before 900 – to act as judge; also to hold an opinion.^[15][9][6]
• c. 1225 – to judge or consider someone to be something.^[9]
• c. 1275 – to think, with a that-clause, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[9]
• c. 1330 – to rule a people as judge (obsolete by 1400).^[9]
• c. 1384 – to think of a person or thing in some way, in Chaucer's House of Fame.^[9]
• 1393 – to administer the law (now archaic).^[9]
• 1470 – to suspect or surmise, in Malory (obsolete by 1598).^[9]
• 1609 – noun, judgement, opinion (obsolete by 1648).^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To consider or judge someone or something to be in a certain way; to regard as: The inspectors deemed the bridge unsafe.^[16][4][9]
2. To hold an opinion; to think, now chiefly in a parenthetical phrase.^[9][6]
3. (archaic) To administer the law.^[4][9]
4. (obsolete) To sit in judgement on a person or cause.^[4][9]

Noun

1. (obsolete, 1609–1648) Judgement, opinion or surmise.^[4][9][12]

Word family

• deemster
• dempster
• misdeem

Related words

• doom
• -dom

Usage notes

In Scots a separate deem, a girl or servant girl, is an altered form of dame.^[4][14]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
16. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins