Where does “den” come from?
Den comes from Old French denier, from Latin denarius meaning a small coin, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European déḱm̥ relating to ten.
den (English): A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a...
Definitions
- A small cavern or hollow place in the side of a...
Ancestry of “den”, step by step
den traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French denier
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | denier | denier coin |
| 2 | Latin | dēnārius | containing or consisting of ten things |
| 3 | Latin | dēnī | — |
| 4 | Latin | decem | ten; 10 |
| 5 | Latin | -nus | -an |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -nos | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -nós | Creates verbal adjectives from roots |
via Middle English den
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | den | A cave or cavern |
| 2 | Old English | denn | den or lair; a woodland pasture for swine |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | dani | a flat area, floor; a small dale |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | daniz | a Dane |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰenh₂- | to set in motion; to flow |