Etymograph

English

duelo

Duelo comes from Italian duello ‘duel’, from Latin bonus ‘good, brave’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-1‘to fit’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos1‘good’reconstructed
  3. Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos1
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonus1
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonus2‘good, brave’uncertain
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduellum3‘combat between two contenders, duel’
  7. Italianc. 1300–presentduello4‘duel’
  8. Englishtodayduelo4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin bonus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin duellum, which cites Pokorny
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Italian duello
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English duelo

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-Wiktionary, Latin bonus‘to fit’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenosWiktionary, Latin bonus‘good’reconstructed
  3. Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenosWiktionary, Latin bonus
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonusWiktionary, Latin bonus
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonusWiktionary, Latin duellum, which cites Pokorny‘good, brave’uncertain
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEduellumWiktionary, Italian duello‘combat between two contenders, duel’
  7. Italianc. 1300–presentduelloWiktionary, English duelo‘duel’
  8. EnglishtodaydueloWiktionary, English duelo

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’

down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dynamo, dun, dynastic, tine, taw, beaucoup, beauteous, 90 more

through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’

beautiful, beauty, boo, rebellion, beau, rebellious, rebelling, bello, benefice, bauble, 35 more

through Archaic Latin duenos

ben, beneficial, rebel, beneficiary, bene, revel, bellicose, 36 more

through Latin bonus ‘good, brave’

bonus, optimal, bonnie, optimism, boon, bona, bonny, bonbon, 13 more

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “duelo”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin bonus, Latin duellum, Italian duello. 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 *dewh₂- / duelo

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