Etymology
1. c.1225, from O.Fr.
douter, from L.
dubitare "hesitate, waver in opinion" (related to
dubius "uncertain"), originally "to have to choose between two things." The sense of "fear" developed in O.Fr. and was passed on to Eng. The
-b- was restored 14c. by scribes in imitation of L. Replaced O.E.
tweogan (noun
twynung), from
tweon "two," on notion of "of two minds" or the choice of two implied in L.
dubitare (cf. Ger.
Zweifel "doubt," from
zwei "two").
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Italic *du(i)βwos
4. Latin *dubosdenom.
5. Latin dubō
6. Proto-Indo-European *-tós
7. Proto-Italic *-tos
8. Latin -tus
9. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
10. Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
11. Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
12. Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
13. Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.
14. Proto-Italic *-ājō
15. Proto-Italic *-āō
16. Latin -ō
17. Latin -tō
18. Latin -itō
19. Latin dubitō
20. Old French doterbor.
21. Middle English douten
22. ▲
23. Old French doter
24. Old French doutebor.
25. Middle English doute
26. ▲
27. English dubiousinflu.
28. ▲
29. Latin dubitōinflu.
30. English doubt
31. The verb is derived from Middle English douten (“to doubt, fear, worry”) [and other forms], from Old French douter, doter, duter (compare Middle French doubter), from Latin dubitāre (“to be uncertain, doubt; to hesitate, waver in coming to an opinion; to consider, ponder”); the further etymology is uncertain, but one theory is that dubitō may be derived from dubius (“fluctuating, wavering; doubtful, dubious, uncertain”), from duhibius (“held as two”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + habeō (“to have, hold”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”)). Spelling reformers of the early modern period added the letter b to reflect the Latin root dubitō, but it has never been pronounced in English.
32. The noun is derived from Middle English dout, doute (“uncertainty, hesitation; questionable point; anxiety, fear, reverence”) [and other forms],
33. from Old French doute, dote, dute (“uncertain feeling, doubt”), from doter, douter, duter (“to doubt, fear”) (compare Middle French doubter; modern French douter (“to doubt, suspect”)); see further etymology above.
34. The ESL "question" sense is a semantic loan from Romance cognates: Portuguese dúvida, Spanish duda, Catalan dubte, French doute, Italian dubbio and others, which can all mean "question".
35. Displaced Old English twēo (“doubt”) and twēoġan (“to doubt”). See: Middle English '
douten', Old French '
douter', Middle French '
doubter', Latin '
dubitō', Middle French '
doubter', French '
douter'.
Verbs referencing "doubt"
Esperanto
dubi.