doubt

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
2. Proto-Indo-European*dwi-
3. Proto-Indo-European*bʰuH-
4. Proto-Italic*du(i)βwos
5. Latin*dubosde
6. Latindubō
7. Latindubitō
8. Old Frenchdoter
9. Middle Englishdouten
10. Old Frenchdoter
11. Old Frenchdoute
12. Middle Englishdoute
13. Englishdubiousinflu.
14. Latindubitōinflu.
15. English todaydoubt

The verb is derived from Middle English douten (“to doubt, fear, worry”) [and other forms], from Old French douter, doter, duter (compare Middle French doubter), from Latin dubitāre (“to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”); the further etymology is uncertain, but one theory is that dubitō may be derived from dubius (“fluctuating, wavering; doubtful, dubious, uncertain”), from duhibius (“held as two”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + habeō (“to have, hold”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)). Spelling reformers of the early modern period added the letter b to reflect the Latin root dubitō, but it has never been pronounced in English. The noun is derived from Middle English dout, doute (“uncertainty, hesitation; questionable point; anxiety, fear, reverence”) [and other forms], from Old French doute, dote, dute (“uncertain feeling, doubt”), from doter, douter, duter (“to doubt, fear”) (compare Middle French doubter; modern French douter (“to doubt, suspect”)); see further etymology above. The ESL "question" sense is a semantic loan from Romance cognates: Portuguese dúvida, Spanish duda, Catalan dubte, French doute, Italian dubbio and others, which can all mean "question". Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”).

Words from the same roots