Etymograph

English

date

Date comes from Old French date, from Late Latin data, from Latin datus ‘given’, past participle of dō ‘to give’, ultimately from PIE *deh₃-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-1‘to give’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdō1‘to give’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdatus1‘given’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdata1
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400date1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500date1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1996date1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English date
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1996, Peter Doyle: “The bullet took the middle finger of his right…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-Wiktionary, English date‘to give’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdōWiktionary, English date‘to give’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdatusWiktionary, English date‘given’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdataWiktionary, English date
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dateWiktionary, English date
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dateWiktionary, English date
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1996dateWiktionary, English date. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1996, Peter Doyle: “The bullet took the middle finger of his right…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃-

Another origin of date

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-‘to give’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdare‘to give’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdatus‘given’past participle of dare
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEdata
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400date
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500date
  7. Englishtodaydate

Today it means

noun The fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft, sweet pulp and enclosing a hard kernel.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “date”. 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 *deh₃- / date

Shirt and support for this word