Etymology

dutch

D2U1T1C3H4

Today it means: Of or pertaining to the Netherlands, the Dutch people or the Dutch language. Full definition →

Middle English Duch ← Middle Low German dütsch ← Middle Dutch dūtsch
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

dutch · noun1

Clipping of duchess.

dutch · verb2

See Dutch.

Dutch · adjective, proper noun, noun, noun, verb3

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*tewtéh₂
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*þiudiskaz“of one’s people”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*þiudisk
  4. Middle Dutch · derived fromdūtsch
  5. Middle Low German · derived fromdütsch
  6. Middle English · derived fromDuch“German, Low German, Dutch”
  7. English todayDutch

PIE word *tewtéh₂ From Middle English Duch (“German, Low German, Dutch”), from Middle Low German dütsch, düdesch (“German, Low German, Dutch”) and Middle Dutch dūtsch, dūtsc (“German, Low German, Dutch”), from Proto-West Germanic *þiudisk, from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz (“of one’s people”), derived from *þeudō (“people”), from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂. Doublet of Deutsch and Doitsu. Compare Middle English thedisch (“native, endemic”) from Old English þēodisċ (“of one’s people”), Old Saxon thiudisk (German Low German düütsch (“German”)), Old High German diutisc (modern German deutsch (“German”)), modern Dutch Duits (“German”) alongside elevated Diets (“Dutch”) (a secondary distinction, fully accepted only in the 19th century). See also Derrick, Teuton, Teutonic. The pejorative senses (Dutch courage, Dutch wife, Dutch uncle, etc.) are said to stem from the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the accompanying rivalry.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*tewtéh₂ all →

Teutontheed

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.