Etymology

darling

dar·ling
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Today it means: Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one. Full definition →

Middle English dereling, derelyng ← Old English dīerling, dēorling ← Proto-West Germanic *diuriling
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darling · noun, adjective, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰegʷʰ-“hot, warm; to burn”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*diurijalingaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*diuriling
  4. Old English · inherited fromdīerling, dēorling“favourite, darling; minion”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromdereling, derelyng“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”
  6. English todaydarling

The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature; small’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.

Darling · proper noun2

From darling.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*dʰegʷʰ- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.