Etymograph

English

adaw

Adaw comes from Middle English adawen ‘to terminate, defeat’, from adawe ‘dead, nonexistent’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-1‘to burn’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dagaz2‘day’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dag3‘day’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dæġ3‘day, (usually) as a period from sunrise to sunset and as a 24-hour period from sunrise to…’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500day4
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dawe4
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500adawe4‘dead, nonexistent’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500adawen4‘to terminate, defeat’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1583adaw4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *dagaz, which cites Kroonen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *dag
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Middle English day
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English adaw
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1583, Brian Melbancke, Philotimus. The warre betwixt nature and fortune: “But friezing colde adawes the frying heate[…]”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *dagaz, which cites Kroonen‘to burn’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dagazWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *dag‘day’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dagWiktionary, Middle English day‘day’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dæġWiktionary, Middle English day‘day, (usually) as a period from sunrise to sunset and as a 24-hour period from sunrise to…’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dayWiktionary, English adaw
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500daweWiktionary, English adaw
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500adaweWiktionary, English adaw‘dead, nonexistent’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500adawenWiktionary, English adaw‘to terminate, defeat’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1583adawWiktionary, English adaw. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1583, Brian Melbancke, Philotimus. The warre betwixt nature and fortune: “But friezing colde adawes the frying heate[…]”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’

dear, fever, darling, febrile, foment, 19 more

through Proto-Germanic *dagaz ‘day’

dawn

through Middle English day

day

through Middle English dawe

daw

Today it means

verb To daunt, overcome, subdue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “adaw”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *dagaz, Proto-West Germanic *dag, Middle English day. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- / adaw

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