Etymograph

English

dine

Dine comes from Middle English dynen ‘to eat lunch’, from Latin ieiūnus ‘fasting, abstinent, hungry’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁yaǵ- ‘to sacrifice’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁yaǵ-1‘to sacrifice’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁yaǵ-yu-s1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*jagjūnos1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEieiūnus2‘fasting, abstinent, hungry’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*disiūnāre2‘to eat breakfast’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400disner2‘to dine, eat the main meal of the day’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dynen2‘to eat lunch’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1815dine2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin ieiunus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English dine
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, Walter Scott, The Astrologer. […]: “Brown accompanied his jolly landlord and the rest of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁yaǵ-Wiktionary, Latin ieiunus‘to sacrifice’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁yaǵ-yu-sWiktionary, Latin ieiunusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*jagjūnosWiktionary, Latin ieiunusreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEieiūnusWiktionary, English dine‘fasting, abstinent, hungry’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*disiūnāreWiktionary, English dine‘to eat breakfast’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400disnerWiktionary, English dine‘to dine, eat the main meal of the day’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dynenWiktionary, English dine‘to eat lunch’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1815dineWiktionary, English dine. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, Walter Scott, The Astrologer. […]: “Brown accompanied his jolly landlord and the rest of…”

Linked words

through Old French disner ‘to dine, eat the main meal of the day’

dinner

Today it means

verb To eat; to eat dinner or supper.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dine”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin ieiunus. 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 *h₁yaǵ- / dine

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