English
disband
Disband comes from Middle French desbander, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- ‘to tie’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-1‘to tie’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600desbander1
- Englishearliest quotation 1603disband1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English disband
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes: “Having taken a review of his Army at Ardachan,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-Wiktionary, English disband‘to tie’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600desbanderWiktionary, English disband
- Englishearliest quotation 1603disbandWiktionary, English disband. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes: “Having taken a review of his Army at Ardachan,…”
The story
Attested since the 1590s, from Middle French desbander (Modern French débander), from des- (English dis-) + bande (English band), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (‘to tie’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- ‘to tie’
bond, bend, bundle, banner, bind, bonnet, tulip, bund, funicular, bandana, bandh, 20 more
Today it means
verb To break up or (cause to) cease to exist; to disperse.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “disband”. 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 *bʰendʰ- / disband