dull

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʌl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dul, apparently related to Old English dol (“dull-witted, foolish”),^[2][3][4][5] though Etymonline also allows an unrecorded parallel word or a borrowing of Middle Low German dul (“foolish, reckless”), and Hoad compares the Middle Low German and Middle Dutch words.^[3][6] All go back to Proto-Germanic *dulaz,^[2][3][6] which is also the source of Old Frisian dol, Old Saxon dol and Old High German tol (modern German toll (“mad, wild”)).^[2][3][4] It is sometimes traced to a root meaning dust, vapour or smoke, which gave words for clouded wits, such as Old Irish dall (“blind”) and Ancient Greek θολός (tholós, “mud”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not quick of understanding, stupid: about 940 in the OED, probably about 1200 in Barnhart, about 1200 in Etymonline.^[7][2][3] Blunt, not sharp, is from about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dull senses are from about 1340,^[7] slow or sluggish from 1393,^[7] dispirited from about 1393,^[7] and overcast weather from about 1430.^[7] The sense boring, tedious, is first recorded in 1590, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors.^[2][7] Trade has been dull since 1705, and pain since 1725.^[7] The verb, to lessen the vigour of, is from about 1200, and to make blunt from the late 14th century.^[3] Dullard is from the 15th century.^[6] In dialects across Scotland and England dull also meant deaf or hard of hearing,^[8] and in Antrim a dull was a horsehair noose for catching trout.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 940 – slow of understanding.^[7]
• c. 1200 – to dull (verb).^[3]
• c. 1230 – blunt.^[2]
• 1393 – sluggish.^[7]
• c. 1430 – overcast.^[7]
• 1590 – boring, tedious.^[2][7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Slow to understand; stupid.
2. Lacking interest; boring.
3. Not sharp; blunt.
4. Not intense or keenly felt: a dull ache.
5. Of weather, cloudy; overcast.
6. Not brisk; sluggish.
7. Of colour, lacking brightness; of sound, muffled.
8. Lacking spirit; listless.

Verb

1. To make or become dull.

Word family

• dullish
• dully
• dullness
• dullsville
• dullard
• dull-witted
• undulled

Related words

• doldrums
• dwell

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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)