- deaf (adj.)
- Old English deaf "deaf," also "empty, barren," specialized from Proto-Germanic *daubaz (source also of Old Saxon dof, Old Norse daufr, Old Frisian daf, Dutch doof "deaf," German taub, Gothic daufs "deaf, insensate"), from PIE dheubh-, which was used to form words meaning "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness" (source also of Greek typhlos "blind," typhein "to make smoke;" Old English dumb "unable to speak;" Old High German tumb).
The word was pronounced to rhyme with reef until 18c. Deaf-mute is from 1837, after French sourd-muet. Deaf-mutes were sought after in 18c.-19c. Britain as fortune-tellers. Deaf as an adder (Old English) is from Psalms lviii:5.
