Etymograph

English

damnify

Damnify comes from Old French damnifier ‘to damage’, from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂pnóm ‘expense, investment’, and ultimately from *deh₂p- ‘to sacrifice, to lose’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂p-1‘to sacrifice, to lose’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dh₂pnóm1‘expense, investment’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dapnom1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnum2‘damage’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnificus3as damnifico‘causing damage, injurious’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400damnifier3‘to damage’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590damnify3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin damnum
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin damnificus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English damnify
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XI: “he saw himselfe so freshly reare, / As if…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂p-Wiktionary, Latin damnum‘to sacrifice, to lose’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dh₂pnómWiktionary, Latin damnum‘expense, investment’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dapnomWiktionary, Latin damnumreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnumWiktionary, Latin damnificus‘damage’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnificusWiktionary, English damnifyas damnifico‘causing damage, injurious’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400damnifierWiktionary, English damnify‘to damage’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590damnifyWiktionary, English damnify. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XI: “he saw himselfe so freshly reare, / As if…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- ‘to sacrifice, to lose’

tap, tapas, 6 more

through Proto-Italic *dapnom

condemnation, 6 more

through Latin damnum ‘damage’

damage, condemn, indemnity, damnation, 7 more

Today it means

verb To damage physically; to injure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “damnify”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin damnum, Latin damnificus. 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 *deh₂p- / damnify

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