Etymograph

English

dag

Dag comes from Middle English dagge.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dagge1
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1597-98dag1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dag
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1597-98, 1597–8, Joseph_Hall_(bishop) Joseph Hall Satires: “To see the dunged folds of dag-tayled sheepe.”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500daggeWiktionary, English dag
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1597-98dagWiktionary, English dag. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1597-98, 1597–8, Joseph_Hall_(bishop) Joseph Hall Satires: “To see the dunged folds of dag-tayled sheepe.”

The story

The sense "dangling lock of wool, matted with dung" (originally from the dialect of Kent) is also termed "daglock" (derived from the "hanging end" sense of "dag") or "daggle-lock" and some sources consider the sense a shortening of that longer word rather than a mere evolution of the "hanging end" sense.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English dagge

Another origin of dag

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEDāciauncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEDācus‘Dacian’uncertain
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*daca‘Dacian knife’uncertainfeminine form of Dācus
  4. Old Occitanc. 950–1500dague
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dague
  6. Englishtodaydag

From Old French dague (from Old Occitan dague, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *daca (‘Dacian knife’), from the Roman province Dacia (roughly modern Romania); the ending is possibly the faintly pejorative -ard suffix, as in poignard (‘dagger’)); cognate with dagger.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Another origin of dag

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-‘smoke, haze’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dawwą‘moisture’uncertain
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350dag‘drizzle, haze, mist, dew’uncertain
  4. Englishtodaydag

Of North Germanic origin, probably to Old Norse dag (‘drizzle, haze, mist, dew’); compare Old Swedish dag, Swedish dagg (‘dew’), vs Old Swedish dug (‘drizzle’) Swedish dugg (‘drizzle’).

Today it means

noun A hanging end or shred, in particular a long pointed strip of cloth at the edge of a piece of clothing, or one of a row of decorative strips of cloth that may ornament a tent, booth or fairground.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dag”. 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 / Middle English dagge / dag

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