Etymology

overshadow

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Today it means: To obscure something by casting a shadow. Full definition →

Middle English overschadwen ← Old English ofersċeadwian
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromofersċeadwian“to overshadow”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromoverschadwen
  3. English todayovershadow

From Middle English overschadwen, overschadewe, from Old English ofersċeadwian (“to overshadow”), equivalent to over- + shadow. Compare with West Frisian oerskaduwe (“to overshadow”), Dutch overschaduwen (“to overshadow”), German überschatten (“to overshadow”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐍅𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ufarskadwjan, “to overshadow”), and more distantly, Old Norse yfirskyggja (“to overshadow”), Danish overskygge (“to overshadow”), Swedish överskugga (“to overshadow”), Old English ofersċūwan (“to overshadow”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.