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Origin and history of dour

dour(adj.)

mid-14c., "severe" (of grief); late 14c., of men, "bold, stern, fierce," a word from Scottish and northern England dialect, probably directly from Latin durus "hard," from PIE *dru-ro-, suffixed variant form of root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." Sense of "gloomy, sullen" is late 15c. Related: Dourness.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to dour

*deru-

also *dreu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "be firm, solid, steadfast," with specialized senses "wood," "tree" and derivatives referring to objects made of wood.

It might form all or part of: betroth; Dante; dendrite; dendro-; dendrochronology; dour; Druid; drupe; dryad; dura mater; durable; durance; duration; duress; during; durum; endure; hamadryad; indurate; obdurate; perdurable; philodendron; rhododendron; shelter; tar (n.1) "viscous liquid;" tray; tree; trig (adj.) "smart, trim;" trim; troth; trough; trow; truce; true; trust; truth; tryst.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dru "tree, wood," daru "wood, log, timber;" Greek drys "oak," drymos "copse, thicket," doru "beam, shaft of a spear;" Old Church Slavonic drievo "tree, wood," Serbian drvo "tree," drva "wood," Russian drevo "tree, wood," Czech drva, Polish drwa "wood;" Lithuanian drūtas "firm," derva "pine, wood;" Welsh drud, Old Irish dron "strong," Welsh derw "true," Old Irish derb "sure," Old Irish daur, Welsh derwen "oak;" Albanian drusk "oak;" Old English treo, treow "tree," triewe "faithful, trustworthy, honest."

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    Trends of dour

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    grim
    Old English grimm "fierce, cruel, savage; severe, dire, painful," from Proto-Germanic *grimma- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German, German grimm "grim, angry, fierce," Old Norse grimmr "stern, horrible, dire," Swedish grym "fierce, furious"), from PIE *ghremno
    sour
    Old English sur "sharp and acidic to the taste, tart, acid, fermented," from Proto-Germanic *sura- "sour" (source also of Old Norse surr, Middle Dutch suur, Dutch zuur, Old High German sur, German sauer), from PIE root *suro- "sour, salty, bitter" (source also of Old Church Slavo
    ours
    "that or those belonging to us," c. 1300, oures, a double possessive (with genitive suffix -s (1)), originating in northern England, it has taken over the absolute function of our (q.v.). In Middle English ourn, ouren also were used. Ours is a later possessive form from our, and
    saturnine
    "gloomy, morose, sluggish, grave, not readily made excited or cheerful," mid-15c., literally "born under the influence of the planet Saturn," from Middle English Saturne (see Saturn) + -ine (1). Old medicine believed these characteristics to be caused or influenced by the astrolo
    moody
    "angry, quarrelsome," 12c., from Old English modig "brave, proud, high-spirited, impetuous, arrogant," from Proto-Germanic *modago- (source also of Old Saxon modag, Dutch moedig, German mutig, Old Norse moðugr); see mood (n.1) + -y (2). Meaning "subject to or indulging in gloomy
    dark
    Middle English derk, later dark, from Old English deorc "without light, lacking light or brightness (especially at night), obscure, gloomy;" figuratively "sad, cheerless; sinister, wicked," from Proto-Germanic *derkaz (source also of Old High German tarchanjan "to hide, conceal")
    sullen
    1570s, an alteration of Middle English solein, soleyn "unique, singular, remarkable, strange;" also "solitary, lone, unmarried" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French *solein, formed on the pattern of Old French solain "lonely," from soul "single," from Latin solus "by oneself, alone" (s
    glum
    1540s, "sullen, moody, frowning," from Middle English gloumen (v.) "become dark" (c. 1300), later gloumben "look gloomy or sullen" (late 14c.); see gloom. Or from or influenced by Low German glum "gloomy, troubled, turbid." In English the word was also formerly a noun meaning "a
    apprehensive
    late 14c., "capable of perceiving, fitted for mental impression," from Medieval Latin apprehensivus, from Latin apprehens-, past-participle stem of apprehendere "take hold of, grasp" physically or mentally (see apprehend). The meaning "fearful of what is to come" is recorded from
    Jupiter
    also Juppiter, c. 1200, "supreme deity of the ancient Romans," from Latin Iupeter, Iupiter, Iuppiter, "Jove, god of the sky and chief of the gods," from PIE *dyeu-peter- "god-father" (originally vocative, "the name naturally occurring most frequently in invocations" [Tucker]), fr

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