"D" Word Origins

distributive

Origin

From Middle French distributif, from Latin distribūtīvus.

distributor

Origin

Formed from distribute plus the agent suffix -or, meaning "one who distributes."

district

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin districtus, originally referring to the area under a lord's jurisdiction where he could seize property to enforce payment — from Latin distringere, "to draw apart" or "compel."

districtual

Origin

From district + -ual.

distrust

Origin

Formed by adding the negative prefix dis- to trust.

distrustful

Origin

From distrust plus -ful, "full of distrust."

disturb

Latin

From Old French destorber, from Latin disturbare, "to throw into disorder" — combining dis- with turbare ("to agitate"), the same root as turbulent.

disturbance

Latin

From Old French destorbance, from disturb, following the same Latin root disturbare.

disunification

Origin

From dis- + unification.

disunion

Origin

From Middle French désunion.

disuse

Origin

From Old French desuser, equivalent to dis- + use.

dit

Old English

From Old English dyttan ("to stop up, close"); the Morse code sense is a later, unrelated coinage imitating the sound of the short signal.

ditch

Old English

From Old English dīċ, "trench" or "moat" — the same Germanic root that gave us dike (its doublet, referring to the raised bank rather than the trench).

dither

Origin

Variant of didder, from Middle English dideren (“to tremble”). Compare Middle English bididren, bididdren (“to seduce, deceive”), from Old English bedidrian, bedyderian (“to deceive, trick”). Alternatively, perhaps with expressive voicing from *titeren, from Proto-Germanic *titrōną. If so, then a doublet of teeter and cognate with Old High German zittarōn (German zittern) and Old Norse titra (Faroese titra, Icelandic titra). Alternatively an unrelated reduplicative onomatopoeia.

ditto

Latin · 1600

Borrowed in the 1600s from an Italian dialect form of detto, "said" — the past participle of dire, "to say," from Latin dicere.

ditty

Latin

From Middle English dite, from Old French ditie, ultimately from Latin dictare, "to compose" or "to dictate."

diuretic

Greek

From Greek diourētikos, from diourein 'to pass urine', formed from dia- 'through' and ouron 'urine'.

diurnal

Origin

From Latin diurnālis, from diēs (“day”). Doublet of journal.

div

Origin

Clipping of division.

diva

Latin

From Italian diva, "goddess" or celebrated female singer, from Latin dīva, the feminine form of dīvus, "divine."

divagate

Origin

First attested in 1599; borrowed from Latin dīvagātus, perfect active participle of dīvagor (“to wander here and there”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin dis- (“in different direction”) + vagor (“to wander”). Cognate with French divaguer.

divagation

Origin

Nominalization of divagate (from the Latin verb divagare) + -ion (from the Latin suffix -io).

divan

Origin

Borrowed from French, from Ottoman Turkish دیوان (divan), from Classical Persian دیوان (dēwān), from Middle Persian d(p)ywʾn' (dēwān, “archive, collected writings”), from Sumerian 𒁾 (dub). Compare mattress, from Arabic (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans). Doublet of dewan, douane, and diwaniya.

dive

Old English

From Old English dȳfan ("to dip") merging with dūfan ("to sink or duck"), both from a Germanic root related to deep and dip.

diver

Origin

Formed from dive plus the agent suffix -er, "one who dives."

diverge

Origin

From Medieval Latin dīvergō (“bend away from, go in a different direction”), from Latin dī- + vergō (“bend”).

divergence

Origin

By surface analysis, diverge + -ence.

divergent

Origin

From Latin dis- (“apart”) + vergere (“to turn”) + the adjectival suffix -ent.

divers

Latin

A doublet of diverse, from the same Old French and Latin root meaning "different."

diverse

Latin

From Latin dīversus, "turned different ways," the past participle of dīvertere, "to turn aside" — the same root that gives us divert. A doublet of divert.

diversification

English

From diversify, from Latin diversus meaning turned different ways, plus the noun ending -ation.

diversify

Middle French

From Middle French diversifier, built from diverse plus the verb-forming suffix -ify.

diversion

Latin

From Middle English diversion, ultimately from Latin divertere, "to turn aside" — the same root as divert.

diversionary

Origin

Formed from diversion plus the adjective suffix -ary.

diversionist

Origin

From diversion + -ist; first attested c. 1937.

diversity

Latin

From Old French diversité, from Latin dīversitās, built on diverse plus -ity.

divert

Latin

From Old French divertir, from Latin di- ("apart") plus vertere ("to turn") — related to verse and versus.

divertimento

Origin

Borrowed from Italian, from divertire (“to amuse, to entertain”), from Latin dīvertere.

divertisement

Origin

From French divertissement, from divertir (“to divert, to amuse”).

Dives

Latin

From Latin dives (“rich man”).

divest

Origin

Alteration of devest, from Middle French devester (“strip of possessions”), from Old French desvestir, from des- (“dis-”) + vestir (“to clothe”).

divide

Latin

From Middle English dividen, from Latin dīvidere, "to divide" — it replaced the native Old English word tōdǣlan.

divided

Origin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

dividend

Latin

From Latin dīvidendum, "thing to be divided", the future passive form of dīvidō, "to divide".

divider

Origin

PIE word *dwóh₁ From divide + -er.

dividuality

Origin

From dividual + -ity.

divination

Latin

From Old French divination, from Latin divinatio, related to divinus, "of a god".

divinator

Origin

From Latin dīvīnātor. See divination.