die English · revision 2598

+ English has two words spelled ''die'': the verb “to stop living”, probably from Old Norse, and the noun, a gaming cube or a stamping tool, from French.^(AHD 2000)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /daɪ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

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+ {{homograph|1|stop living}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1135|origins=gem-pro *dawjaną}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|dien]], also deien,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) probably [[bor|non|deyja|t=to die]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(SOED 2002)^(Klein 1966) or Old Danish døja,^(Etymonline) from Proto-Germanic *dawjanan,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the source also of Old Saxon dōian, Old High German [[m|goh|touwen]] and Gothic diwans “mortal”,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and of [[dead]].^(COED 2004)^(Hoad 1986) Etymonline traces it to [[ine-pro|*dʰew-|alt=*dheu-|t=to pass away, die]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) Hoad says an unrecorded Old English *dīegan is also possible,^(Hoad 1986) and the SOED that a verb may have existed in Old English, reinforced from Old Norse.^(SOED 2002) In surviving Old English texts the usual words for “to die” were [[m|ang|steorfan]], the source of [[starve]], and [[m|ang|sweltan]], and phrases with ''dead''.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of people, “to cease to live”: about 1135^(OED 1989) or the mid-12th century.^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates deien to probably about 1200 and dien to about 1300.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Etymonline notes that languages rarely borrow words for central life experiences, but that words for dying are an exception, as they are often hidden or changed out of superstitious dread.^(Etymonline) It was regularly spelled dege until the 15th century and is still pronounced “dee” by some in Lancashire and Scotland.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) “To come to an end” is from the mid-13th century, and of plants, “to wither”, from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) Of sounds and other things it is used figuratively from the 1580s, and ''die away'' is from the 1670s.^(Etymonline) “To long for”, as in ''dying to go'', is colloquial from 1709.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1135 – to cease to live.^(OED 1989)

+ * mid-13th century – to come to an end.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – of plants.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1580s – figurative, of sounds.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1670s – ''die away''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1709 – to long for.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To stop living; to [[expire]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To come to an end or fade away gradually.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To suffer as if dying.^(AHD)

+ # ''(informal)'' To want something very much: ''dying to know''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To stop working: ''the engine died''.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dying]]

+ * [[die-hard]]

+ * [[die-off]]

+ * [[die away]]

+ * [[die down]]

+ * [[die out]]

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+ {{homograph|2|gaming cube; stamp}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1300|origins=la datum}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun is [[inh|enm|dy]], later de,^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|fro|de|t=die, dice]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) of uncertain origin but common to the Romance languages, as Spanish, Italian and Portuguese dado.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is perhaps from [[la|datum|t=given]], the past participle of [[m|la|dare|t=to give]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(SOED 2002) which also had the sense “to play”, as a piece in a game; or the notion is “what is given” by chance.^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster suggests instead Arabic dad “game”.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A small cube used in gaming: probably before 1300, in the plural dys,^(Barnhart 1988) or the early 14th century as a plural and the late 14th century as a singular.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative ''the die is cast'', “the decisive step is taken”, is from the 1630s, translating Latin alea iacta est, said by Caesar at the Rubicon.^(Etymonline) An engraved stamping block for coins and similar tools is a die from the 1690s, perhaps because such dies were often used in pairs.^(Etymonline) In this sense the plural is ''dies''; in the gaming sense it is ''dice''.^(SOED 2002) The verb, “to shape with a die”, is from 1703.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1300 – a gaming cube.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1630s – ''the die is cast''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1690s – a stamping tool.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1703 – verb, to shape with a die.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small cube marked with one to six spots, used in games; one of a pair of [[dice]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A device for cutting, shaping or stamping material, as in [[coinage|alt=coining]] money.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cut or shape with a die.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dice]]

+ * [[die-cast]]

+ * [[die-casting]]

+ * [[diestock]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dead]]

+ * [[death]]

+ * [[starve]]

+ * [[swelter]]

+ * [[date]]

+ * [[dado]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Word Origins notes that the Old English ''swelt'', “to die”, survived in dialect but has probably now died out.^(Cresswell 2021) The OED records the obsolete phrase ''to make a die (of it)'', “to die”, from 1611.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}