Etymograph

English

dumbness

Dumbness comes from Middle English dombenesse ‘Muteness’, from Old English dumb ‘mute, dumb’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dumbaz1‘dumb, mute, unable to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dumb2‘dumb, mute’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dumb3‘mute, dumb’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dumbnes4‘muteness, dumbness’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dombenesse4‘Muteness’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1605–1608dumbness4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *dumb
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English dumb
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English dumbnes
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English dumbness
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, The Life of Tymon of Athens: “To the dumbness of the gesture one might interpret.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dumbazWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *dumb‘dumb, mute, unable to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dumbWiktionary, Old English dumb‘dumb, mute’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dumbWiktionary, Old English dumbnes‘mute, dumb’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150dumbnesWiktionary, English dumbness‘muteness, dumbness’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dombenesseWiktionary, English dumbness‘Muteness’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1605–1608dumbnessWiktionary, English dumbness. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, The Life of Tymon of Athens: “To the dumbness of the gesture one might interpret.”

Formed from dumb + -ness

Proto-Germanic *dumbaz ‘dull’

Proto-West Germanic *dumb ‘dumb’

Old English dumb ‘silent’

Middle English dumb ‘silent’

English dumb

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz

Today it means

noun The state of being mute: that is, of not communicating vocally, whether from selective mutism (refusal to speak) or from an inability to speak.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dumbness”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-West Germanic *dumb, Old English dumb, Old English dumbnes. 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-Germanic *dumbaz / dumbness

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