Etymology

dowf

D2O1W4F4

Today it means: Dull; flat; denoting a defect of spirit, animation, or courage; melancholy; gloomy; inactive; listless; lethargic; pithless; vapid; lacking force; frivolous. Full definition →

Middle English [Term?] ← Old Norse daufr ← Proto-Germanic *daubaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰūbʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*daubaz“deaf”
  3. Old Norse · derived fromdaufr“deaf”
  4. Middle English · inherited from[Term?]
  5. English todaydowf

From Middle English [Term?], from Old Norse daufr (“deaf”) (whence also Icelandic daufur (“deaf, dull”)), from Proto-Germanic *daubaz (“deaf”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰūbʰ-, *dʰūp- (“to smoke”). Doublet of daff, deaf, and dof. Compare dove ("to slumber"). More at deaf.

Words from the same roots

Old Norsedaufr all →

daff

Proto-Germanic*daubaz all →

deafdaff

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.