Etymograph

English

dour

Dour comes from Middle Irish dúr, from Latin dūrus ‘hard, stern’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂- ‘long, distant’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂-1‘long, distant’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂rós1‘long’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrus2‘hard, stern’by way of Middle Irish dúruncertain
  4. Middle Irishc. 900–1200dúr3
  5. Scotsc. 1450–presentdour2‘stern, severe, relentless, dour’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1961dour2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin durus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English dour
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Scots dour
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1961, Editorial: The importance of the "Roadrailer": “The principal reason is that, in competition with modern…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂-Wiktionary, Latin durus‘long, distant’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂rósWiktionary, Latin durus‘long’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrusWiktionary, English dour‘hard, stern’by way of Middle Irish dúruncertain
  4. Middle Irishc. 900–1200dúrWiktionary, Scots dour
  5. Scotsc. 1450–presentdourWiktionary, English dour‘stern, severe, relentless, dour’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1961dourWiktionary, English dour. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1961, Editorial: The importance of the "Roadrailer": “The principal reason is that, in competition with modern…”

The story

Borrowed from Scots dour, possibly from Latin dūrus (‘hard, stern’), via Middle Irish dúr.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂rós ‘long’

during, 12 more

through Latin dūrus ‘hard, stern’

duration, endure, durable, durability, durant, duress, dur, durum, 13 more

Today it means

adj Stern, harsh and forbidding.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dour”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin durus, Scots dour. 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 *dweh₂- / dour

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