Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers. · A low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker. · A raised causeway. · A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water.
To dig, particularly to create a ditch. · To surround with a ditch, to entrench. · To surround with a low dirt or stone wall. · To raise a protective earthwork against a sea or river.
A variant of dike, from Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”). See also ditch. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”). The semantic evolution (also seen in several cognate words) was from "stick (a spade) into" to "dig" to "hole or other product of digging", "excavation", then the ridge of earth created when excavating a ditch, then to a ridge of earth intended to prevent flooding.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 16 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*dʰeygʷ-"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm-nor",
"3": "dik"
},
"expansion": "Northern Middle English dik"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "díki",
"4": "",
"5": "ditch"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse díki (“ditch”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "dum",
"3": "dijc",
"4": "",
"5": "ditch; dam"
},
"expansion": "Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gml",
"3": "dīk",
"4": "",
"5": "dam"
},
"expansion": "Middle Low German dīk (“dam”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*dīkiją",
"4": "",
"5": "trench, ditch"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*dʰeygʷ-",
"4": "",
"5": "stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"dike",
"dike#English"
],
[
"dik",
"dik#Middle_English"
],
[
"dike",
"dike#Middle_English"
],
[
"ditch",
"ditch"
],
[
"díki",
"díki#Old_Norse"
],
[
"ditch",
"ditch"
],
[
"dijc",
"dijc#Middle_Dutch"
],
[
"ditch",
"ditch"
],
[
"dam",
"dam"
],
[
"dīk",
"dik#Middle_Low_German"
],
[
"dam",
"dam"
],
[
"ditch",
"ditch"
],
[
"*dīkiją",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/dīkiją"
],
[
"*dʰeygʷ-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/dʰeygʷ-"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers.",
"A low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker.",
"A raised causeway.",
"A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water."
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"Scotland",
"historical"
],
"recordId": "8111f0b19ee20f44d26755530c133ae3599697e963f5b0ef8a514653c534d3c7",
"rawRecordSha256": "42bdef5f7b767959ec6c31214b466ee7dee0b42ff676677d878c3d0a41506f75",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 1242779
},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To dig, particularly to create a ditch.",
"To surround with a ditch, to entrench.",
"To surround with a low dirt or stone wall.",
"To raise a protective earthwork against a sea or river."
],
"tags": [
"UK",
"intransitive",
"transitive",
"Scotland"
],
"recordId": "dff3d3365e3bbf95469e4f10312920b8beaf033b8838294e31588462c8101ab7",
"rawRecordSha256": "c785117f1fa698a78f68890abd90d7b83068830caea94f14a9b251c93450ad9b",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 1242780
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 16,
"glosses": 0
}
}