Etymograph

English

dust

Dust comes from Middle English dust, from Old English dūst, from a fusion of Proto-Germanic *dustą and *dunstą, from PIE *dʰewh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-‘to smoke, raise dust’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dustą‘dust’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dūst‘dust’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dust‘dust’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1595same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰewh₂-‘to smoke, raise dust’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dustą‘dust’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dūst‘dust’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dust‘dust’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1595same form

Earliest quotation: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “to touch a dust of England’s ground”.

A compound of *dustą ‘dust’ + *dunstą ‘mist, dust, evaporation’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes- ‘to breathe’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰus-tó-s

Proto-Germanic *dustą ‘dust’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes- ‘dust, spirit’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰuns-to-

Proto-Germanic *dunstą ‘mist, dust, evaporation’

The story

Also related to Swedish dun (‘down, fluff’), Icelandic dúnn (‘down, fluff’).

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂-

Today it means

noun Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, fiber debris, dead skin cells, etc.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- / dust

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