Where does “Darling” come from?
Darling is an English word of unknown ultimate origin, possibly derived from diminutive forms in Germanic languages but lacking clear documented etymology.
Ancestry of “Darling”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | dereling | darling |
| 2 | Middle English | derelyng | — |
| 3 | Old English | dīerling | — |
| 4 | Old English | -ling | adverbial suffix denoting direction, state or... |
| 5 | Old English | lang | long; lasting; old, ancient; advanced |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | lang | long |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | langaz | long |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | dlongʰos | long |
Words derived from “Darling”