Etymologically
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dolphin

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈdɒlf.ɪn/[1]
  • US: /ˈdɑlf.ɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dolfin, also dolphin,[2] borrowed from Old French daulphin, also dalphin and daufin,[3][4][5][6] from Old Occitan dalfin,[6][7][8] from Medieval Latin dalfinus,[3][5][6] an alteration of Latin delphīnus,[9][3] from Ancient Greek δελφίς (delphís), genitive δελφῖνος (delphînos).[3][5][4] The OED thinks the English vowel “o” a phonetic variant of the French “au”, and notes that Littré has Middle French doffin from the 15th century;[10] Hoad and Ayto call dolphin an English alteration of dalphin.[11][12] Alongside it, Middle English also had delfyn or delphin, taken straight from the Latin, which did not survive the 17th century.[10][12][11] The Greek name is related to δελφύς (delphús, “womb”),[5][3][4] perhaps from the animal's shape or from its bearing live young;[4][9] Barnhart traces the word for womb to Proto-Indo-European *gʷelbʰ-.[3] The French word also gave English dauphin, and the Greek a plant name that became delphinium.[12][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sea mammal: Barnhart dates dolfin to about 1350,[3] Etymonline to the mid-14th century;[4] the OED's first quotation is from Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, before 1387.[10][2] Collins dates the word to the 13th century,[13] and Hoad has the delphin forms from then.[11]

Semantic evolution

From the late Middle Ages the name was also used for a figure of a dolphin in art and heraldry (before 1400)[10][2] and for the constellation Delphinus, from 1430 in Lydgate.[10][4] Sailors applied it to the dorado, a brightly coloured fish, from the late 16th century, through confusion with the mammal;[4][10] Johnson (1755) still called the dolphin a fish.[14] Many objects thought to look like a dolphin took the name: the handles on early cannon (1704), a mooring buoy or mooring post (1764), and an angling hook (1854).[10] In Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hertfordshire dolphin was also a black aphid that blights beans, recorded from 1731.[15][10] In Scotland the dolphin was a French gold coin in the 1450s.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – dolfin, the sea mammal.[3]
  • before 1387 – the sea mammal, in Trevisa.[10][2]
  • before 1400 – a figure of a dolphin in art or heraldry.[10]
  • 1430 – the constellation Delphinus.[10]
  • 1451 – a French gold coin current in Scotland (obsolete).[10]
  • 1626 – the dorado.[10]
  • 1704 – a handle on an early cannon.[10]
  • 1731 – a black aphid that attacks beans.[10]
  • 1764 – a mooring buoy or mooring post.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of various small toothed whales of the family Delphinidae, with a snout drawn out into a beak: A pod of dolphins followed the ferry.[9][13][10]
  2. A river dolphin, a freshwater relative living in rivers of South America and Asia.[13]
  3. The dorado, a large brightly coloured sea fish.[13][10]
  4. (nautical) A mooring post or buoy, or a cluster of piles to which a vessel can be tied.[10]
  5. A figure of a dolphin, usually curved, in art or heraldry.[10]
  6. Dolphin: the constellation Delphinus.[10]

Verb

  1. To swim with a series of plunges, as a dolphin does.[9]

Word family

  • dolphin kick
  • dolphin striker

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ 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)