Advertisement

Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of dun

dun(v.)

"to insist on payment of debt," 1620s, also as a noun, "agent employed to collect debts," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle English dunnen "to sound, resound, make a din" (c. 1200, dialectal variant of din), or shortened from dunkirk (c. 1600) "privateer," a private vessel licensed to attack enemy ships during wartime, from Dunkirk, the French port from which they sailed. The oldest theory traces it to a Joe Dun, supposedly a London bailiff famous for catching defaulters. Related: Dunned; dunning. As a noun from 1620s.

dun(adj.)

Old English dunn "dingy brown; dark-colored," perhaps from Celtic (compare Old Irish donn "dark;" Gaelic donn "dull; dark brown; dark;" Welsh dwnn "brownish"), from PIE *donnos, *dusnos "dark." As a noun, "dun color," 1560s; as "a dun horse" from late 14c. The "horse" meaning is that the figurative expression dun is in the mire "things are at a standstill or deadlocked," which occurs in both Chaucer and Shakespeare. Dun also is likely the origin of the surnames Dunn, Dunne, Donne, Dunning, etc.

Entries linking to dun

din(n.)

"loud noise of some duration, a resonant sound long continued," Old English dyne (n.), related to dynian (v.), from Proto-Germanic *duniz (source also of Old Norse dynr, Danish don, Middle Low German don "noise"), from PIE root *dwen- "to make noise" (source also of Sanskrit dhuni "roaring, a torrent").

donkey(n.)

familiar term for an ass, 1785, also donky, donkie, originally slang or dialectal, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a diminutive from dun "dull gray-brown" (from Middle English donned, past participle of donnen "to lose color, fade, from Old English dunnian). Compare Dunning, name of a (dun) horse (mid-14c.), and see dun (adj.). The form perhaps was influenced by monkey.

Or perhaps it is from a familiar form of the proper name Duncan applied to an animal (compare dobbin). The older English word was ass (n.1). Applied to stupid, obstinate, or wrong-headed persons by 1840. In mechanics, used of small or supplementary apparatus from mid-19c. (donkey-engine, donkey-pump, etc.). Short form donk is by 1916.

Duncan

surname and masc. given name, from Gaelic donn "brown, dark" (see dun (adj.)) + ceann "head." Or else from Old Irish, Old Gaelic Donnchad "brown warrior."

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trends of dun

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

    More to explore

    torment
    c. 1300, "the inflicting of torture," also "state of great suffering, pain, distress," from Old French torment "torture, pain, anguish, suffering distress" (11c., Modern French tourment), from Latin tormentum "twisted cord, sling; clothes-press; instrument for hurling stones," al
    rag
    "torn or worn scrap of cloth," early 14c., probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse rögg "shaggy tuft, rough hair," earlier raggw-; Old Danish rag; see rug), or else a back-formation from ragged. It also may represent an unrecorded Old English cognate of Old Norse r
    crucify
    mid-14c., "to put to death by nailing or otherwise affixing to a cross," from Old French crucifer crucefiier (12c., Modern French crucifier), from Vulgar Latin *crucificare, from Late Latin crucifigere "to fasten to a cross," from cruci, dative of Latin crux "cross" (see crux) +
    down
    "a hill of moderate elevation and more or less rounded outline," Old English dun "height, hill, moor," from Proto-Germanic...words tend to mean "dune, sand bank" (see dune), while the Celtic cognates tend to mean "hill, citadel" (compare Old Irish dun...
    curry
    Compare German den falben (hengst) streichen "to flatter, cajole," literally "to stroke the dun-colored horse."...Old French fauvel (later fauveau) "fallow, dun," though the exact color intended in the early uses is vague, is a diminutive...
    Fauvist
    horse, dark-colored thing, dull," and is from Frankish *falw- or some other Germanic source, cognate with German falb "dun...
    thin
    from Proto-Germanic *thunni "thin" (source also of West Frisian ten, Middle Low German dunne, Middle Dutch dunne, Dutch dun...
    harry
    Old English hergian "make war, lay waste, ravage, plunder," the word used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for what the Vikings did to England, from Proto-Germanic *harjon (source also of Old Frisian urheria "lay waste, ravage, plunder," Old Norse herja "to make a raid, to plunder,"
    darken
    c. 1300, derken, "to make dark or darker, deprive of light;" early 14c. (intransitive), "to grow or become dark," from dark (adj.) + -en (1). The more usual verb in Middle English in both senses was simply dark, as it is in Chaucer and Shakespeare, and darken did not predominate
    mount
    c. 1300, mounten, "to get up on a horse;" mid-14c., "to rise up, rise in amount, ascend; fly," from Old French monter "to go up, ascend, climb, mount," from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project"). The transitive

    Share dun

    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Trending
    Dictionary entries near dun
    Advertisement

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

    Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.