Etymograph

English

dory

Dory may come from Miskito; Wiktionary does not name the Miskito form.

  1. Miskitomodernform not named1uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1897dory1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dory
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Rudyard Kipling: “From every schooner, dories were being dropped into the…”.

Lineage

  1. Miskitomodernform not namedWiktionary, English doryuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1897doryWiktionary, English dory. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Rudyard Kipling: “From every schooner, dories were being dropped into the…”

The story

Attested in American English from 1709 C.E.; possibly derived from an indigenous language of the West Indies or Central America, perhaps Miskito.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Another origin of dory

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdeauratus‘gilded’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400doree
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dorry‘The European dory (Zeus faber)’
  4. Englishtodaydory

Another origin of dory

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dóru‘tree’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*dóru‘tree’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδόρυdóru‘wood, tree, stem’
  4. Englishtodaydory

Today it means

noun A small flat-bottomed boat with pointed or somewhat pointed ends, used for fishing both offshore and on rivers.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dory”. 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 / dory

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