Etymology

dight

D2I1G2H4T1

Today it means: Adorned, decorated, or furnished (with); dressed, arrayed, or decked out. Full definition →

Middle English dighten ← Old English dihtan ← Proto-West Germanic *dihtōn
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromdictāre“to dictate”
  2. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*dʰeyǵ-
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*dīkaną“to arrange; create; perform”
  4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*dihtōn“to compose; invent”
  5. Old English · inherited fromdihtan
  6. Middle English · inherited fromdighten
  7. English todaydight

From Middle English dighten, dihten, (also dyten, from whence dite), from Old English dihtan, dihtian (“to set in order; dispose; arrange; appoint; direct; compose”), from Proto-West Germanic *dihtōn (“to compose; invent”), of disputed origin. Possibly from a derivative of Proto-Germanic *dīkaną (“to arrange; create; perform”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵ-, *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead; shape; mold; build”), influenced by Latin dictāre; or perhaps from Latin dictāre (“to dictate”) itself. See dictate; and also parallel formations in German dichten, Dutch dichten, Swedish dikta.

Words from the same roots

Latindictāre all →

ditty

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.