Etymograph

English

damning

Damning comes from Middle English dampnen ‘to damn’, from Latin damnum ‘damage, injury’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- ‘to sacrifice’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂p-1‘to sacrifice’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dh₂pnóm1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dapnom1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnum1‘damage, injury’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnō2‘to sentence someone to a punishment, declare guilty, condemn, damn, doom, convict, judge’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dampner2‘to damn’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dampnen3‘to damn’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dampnynge4
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1693damning4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin damno
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English dampnen
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Middle English dampnynge
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English damning
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, D. F. pseudonym; Daniel Defoe, An Essay upon Projects: “No man is believed a jot the more for…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂p-Wiktionary, Latin damno‘to sacrifice’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dh₂pnómWiktionary, Latin damnoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dapnomWiktionary, Latin damnoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnumWiktionary, Latin damno‘damage, injury’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdamnōWiktionary, Middle English dampnen‘to sentence someone to a punishment, declare guilty, condemn, damn, doom, convict, judge’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dampnerWiktionary, Middle English dampnen‘to damn’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dampnenWiktionary, Middle English dampnynge‘to damn’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dampnyngeWiktionary, English damning
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1693damningWiktionary, English damning. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, D. F. pseudonym; Daniel Defoe, An Essay upon Projects: “No man is believed a jot the more for…”

Formed from damn + -ing

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

…

Latin damnum ‘loss’

Latin damnō ‘to condemn, inflict loss upon’

Old French damner

Middle English dampnen

English damn

Linked words

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

tap, tapas, 6 more

through Latin damnum ‘damage, injury’

damage, condemnation, indemnity, 6 more

through Latin damnō ‘to sentence someone to a punishment, declare…’

condemn, damnation, 2 more

Today it means

verb Condemning; (often) sufficient to defeat a political or commercial rival.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “damning”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin damno, Middle English dampnen, Middle English dampnynge. 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- / damning

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