- domain (n.)
- early 15c., in Scottish, from Middle French domaine "domain, estate," from Old French demaine "lord's estate," from Latin dominium "property, dominion," from dominus "lord, master, owner," from domus "house" (see domestic). Form influenced in Old French by Medieval Latin domanium "domain, estate." Internet domain name attested by 1985.
- dominate (v.)
- 1610s, from Latin dominatus, past participle of dominari "to rule, dominate, to govern," from dominus (see domain). Related: Dominated; dominating. Or perhaps a back-formation from domination.
- Dom Perignon
- trademark name, 1954 (in use from 1936), from monk of that name (1638-1715), blind cellarmaster of the monastery of Hautvilliers near Epernay, France, who was said to have discovered the advantage of corked bottles in fermentation. Dom was a title of authority, from Latin dominus "lord, master" (see domain).
- don (n.)
- 1520s, from Spanish or Portuguese don, title of respect, from Latin dominus "lord, master." The university sense is c. 1660, originally student slang; underworld sense is 1952, from Italian don, from Late Latin domnus, from Latin dominus (see domain). The fem. form is Dona (Spanish/Portuguese), Donna (Italian).
- demesne (n.)
- c. 1300, demeyne (modern spelling by late 15c.), from Anglo-French demesne, demeine, Old French demaine "land held for a lord's own use," from Latin dominicus "belonging to a master," from dominus "lord." Re-spelled by Anglo-French legal scribes under influence of Old French mesnie "household" (and the concept of a demesne as "land attached to a mansion") and their fondness for inserting -s- before -n-. Essentially the same word as domain.
- dungeon (n.)
- c. 1300, "great tower of a castle," from Old French donjon "great tower of a castle" (12c.), from Gallo-Roman *dominionem, from Late Latin dominium, from Latin dominus "master" (of the castle; see domain). Sense of "castle keep" led to "strong (underground) cell" in English early 14c. The original sense went with the variant donjon.
- domino (n.)
- 1801, from French domino (1771), perhaps (on comparison of the black tiles of the game) from the meaning "hood with a cloak worn by canons or priests" (1690s), from Latin dominus "lord, master" (see domain), but the connection is not clear. Klein thinks it might be directly from dominus, "because he who has first disposed his pieces becomes 'the master.' " Metaphoric use in geopolitics is from April 1954, first used by U.S. President Eisenhower in a "New York Times" piece, in reference to what happens when you set up a row of dominos and knock the first one down.
- condominium (n.)
- c. 1714, "joint rule or sovereignty," from Modern Latin condominium "joint sovereignty," apparently coined in German c. 1700 from Latin com- "together" (see com-) + dominum "right of ownership" (see domain). A word in politics and international law until sense of "privately owned apartment" arose in American English 1962 as a special use of the legal term.
- danger (n.)
- mid-13c., "power of a lord or master, jurisdiction," from Anglo-French daunger, Old French dangier "power, power to harm, mastery, authority, control" (12c., Modern French danger), alteration (due to assoc. with damnum) of dongier, from Vulgar Latin *dominarium "power of a lord," from Latin dominus "lord, master" (see domain).
Modern sense of "risk, peril" (from being in the control of someone or something else) evolved first in French and was in English late 14c. Replaced Old English pleoh; in early Middle English this sense is found in peril.
- eminent (adj.)
- early 15c., from Old French éminent "prominent" (13c.) or directly from Latin eminentem (nominative eminens) "standing out, projecting, prominent, high," figuratively "distinguished, distinctive," present participle of eminere "stand out, project; be prominent, be conspicuous," from assimilated form of ex- "out" (see ex-) + -minere, which is related to mons "hill" (see mount (n.1)). Related: Eminently. Legal eminent domain recorded from 1738.
- Domesday book
- 1178, popular name of Great Inquisition or Survey (1086), William the Conqueror's inventory of his new domain, from Middle English domes, genitive of dom "day of judgment" (see doom). "The booke ... to be called Domesday, bicause (as Mathew Parise saith) it spared no man, but iudged all men indifferently." [William Lambarde, "A Perambulation of Kent," 1570]
- google (v.)
- "to search (something) on the Google search engine," 2000 (do a google on was used by 1999). The domain google.com was registered in 1997. According to the company, the name is a play on googol and reflects the "mission" of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin "to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web." A verb google was an early 20c. cricket term in reference to a type of breaking ball, from googly.
- fief (n.)
- also feoff, 1610s, from French fief (12c.) "a 'feud,' possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment," from Medieval Latin feodum "land or other property whose use is granted in return for service," widely said to be from Frankish *fehu-od "payment-estate," or a similar Germanic compound, in which the first element is from Proto-Germanic *fekhu, making it cognate with Old English feoh "money, movable property, cattle" (see fee). Second element perhaps is similar to Old English ead "wealth" (see Edith).
- jurisdiction (n.)
- early 14c., jurisdiccioun, jurediction, etc., "administration of justice," from Old French juridicion (13c., Modern French juridiction) and directly from Latin iurisdictionem (nominative iurisdictio) "administration of justice, jurisdiction," from phrase iuris dictio, genitive of ius "law, right" (see jurist) + dictio "a saying" (see diction). Meaning "extent or range of administrative power, domain over which a legal or judicial authority extends" is from late 14c. Meaning "judicial authority, right of making and enforcing laws" is from early 15c. The form in English assimilated to Latin 16c. Related: Jurisdictional.
- territory (n.)
- late 14c., "land under the jurisdiction of a town, state, etc.," probably from Latin territorium "land around a town, domain, district," from terra "earth, land" (see terrain) + -orium, suffix denoting place (see -ory). Sense of "any tract of land, district, region" is first attested c. 1600. Specific U.S. sense of "organized self-governing region not yet a state" is from 1799. Of regions defended by animals from 1774.
"Since -torium is a productive suffix only after verbal stems, the rise of terri-torium is unexplained" [Michiel de Vaan, "Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages"]. An alternative theory, somewhat supported by the vowels of the original Latin word, suggests derivation from terrere "to frighten" (see terrible); thus territorium would mean "a place from which people are warned off."
- fee (n.)
- Middle English, representing the merger or mutual influence of two words, one from Old English, one from an Old French form of the same Germanic word, and both ultimately from a PIE root meaning "cattle."
The Old English word is feoh "livestock, cattle; movable property; possessions in livestock, goods, or money; riches, treasure, wealth; money as a medium of exchange or payment," from Proto-Germanic *fehu- (source also of Old Saxon fehu, Old High German fihu, German Vieh "cattle," Gothic faihu "money, fortune"). This is from PIE *peku- "cattle" (source also of Sanskrit pasu, Lithuanian pekus "cattle;" Latin pecu "cattle," pecunia "money, property").
The other word is Anglo-French fee, from Old French fieu, a variant of fief "possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment" (see fief), which apparently is a Germanic compound in which the first element is cognate with Old English feoh.
Via Anglo-French come the legal senses "estate in land or tenements held on condition of feudal homage; land, property, possession" (c. 1300). Hence fee-simple (late 14c.) "absolute ownership," as opposed to fee-tail (early 15c.) "entailed ownership," inheritance limited to some particular class of heirs (second element from Old French taillir "to cut, to limit").
The feudal sense was extended from landholdings to inheritable offices of service to a feudal lord (late 14c.; in Anglo-French late 13c.), for example forester of fe "a forester by heritable right." As these often were offices of profit, the word came to be used for "remuneration for service in office" (late 14c.), hence, "payment for (any kind of) work or services" (late 14c.). From late 14c. as "a sum paid for a privilege" (originally admission to a guild); early 15c. as "money payment or charge exacted for a licence, etc."
