downright

The story

1. Old English · inherited fromdūne“down”
2. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*h₃reǵ-“to straighten”
3. Old English · inherited fromriht“straight; etc.”
4. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*dʰewh₂-“haze, mist; smoke”
5. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*dūnā, *dūnu“hill; sand dune”
6. Old English · inherited fromadūn
7. Middle English · inherited fromdounright
8. English todaydownright

The adverb is derived from Middle English dounright, dounriȝt (“right down, straight down; face down; vertically; used for emphasis: outright, downright”), and then either: * possibly an aphetic form of adounright (“straight down; directly, immediately (?)”), from adoun (“downward”, adverb) (from Old English adūn, adūne (“down, downward”, adverb), ultimately from dūn (“hill, mountain”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūnā, *dūnu (“hill; sand dune”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“haze, mist; smoke”)) + right (“direct; straight; etc.”, adjective) (from Old English riht (“straight; etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten”)); or * from doun (“down, downward; etc.”, adverb) (from Old English dūne (“down”), ultimately from dūn (“hill, mountain”): see above) + right. By surface analysis, down (adverb) + right (adjective). The adjective and noun are derived from the adverb. Noun sense 1 (“low grade of wool”) may be from the obsolete adjective sense 2.2 (“in its most basic form; ordinary”).

Words from the same roots