"cause damage to, hurt, injure, harm," early 14c., from Old French damagier, from damage "loss caused by injury" (see damage (n.)). Related: Damaged; damaging.

"causing hurt or loss to person, character, or estate," 1849, present-participle adjective from damage (v.). Related: Damagingly (1849). Earlier in the same sense were damageous (late 14c.), damageful (mid-15c.), both now obsolete.

late 14c. as a noun, "inhabitant of Syria," from Latin Damascenum; 1540s as an adjective, "of or pertaining to Damascus; of or resembling damask fabric," from Latin Damascenus "of Damascus," from Damascus (see Damascus). 

ancient city in Syria, famous in medieval times for silk and steel, mid-13c., probably via Old French, from Latin Damascus, from Greek Damaskos, from Semitic (compare Hebrew Dammeseq, Arabic Dimashq), from a pre-Semitic name of unknown origin.

mid-13c., "Damascus;" late 14c., Damaske, "costly textile fabric woven in elaborate patterns," literally "cloth from Damascus," the Syrian city noted for fabric; see Damascus. From c. 1600 as "a pink color," a reference to the Damask rose, which is native to that region. As an adjective, "woven with figures," 1640s. Related: Damasked.

c. 1200, "a mother," also "a woman of rank or high social position; superior of a convent," and an address for a woman of rank or position, used respectfully to other ladies, from Old French dame "lady, mistress, wife," from Late Latin domna, from Latin domina "lady, mistress of the house," from Latin domus "house" (from PIE root *dem- "house, household").

From early 14c. as "a woman" in general, particularly a mature or married woman or the mistress of a household. Used in Middle English with personifications (Study, Avarice, Fortune, Richesse, Nature, Misericordie). In later use the legal title for the wife of a knight or baronet.

Slang sense of "woman" in the broadest sense, without regard to rank or anything else, is attested by 1902 in American English.

We got sunlight on the sand

We got moonlight on the sea

We got mangoes and bananas

You can pick right off the tree

We got volleyball and ping-pong

And a lot of dandy games!

What ain't we got?

We ain't got dames! 

[Richard Rodgers, "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame," 1949]

1610s, coalesced form of damn me, used as an oath.

representation of the oath damn it! as it usually is sounded, 1908.

Middle English dampnen, also damnen, dammen, late 13c. as a legal term, "to condemn, declare guilty, convict;" c. 1300 in the theological sense of "doom to punishment in a future state," from Old French damner "damn, condemn; convict, blame; injure," derivative of Latin damnare "to adjudge guilty; to doom; to condemn, blame, reject," from noun damnum "damage, hurt, harm; loss, injury; a fine, penalty," from Proto-Italic *dapno-, possibly from an ancient religious term from PIE *dap- "to apportion in exchange" [Watkins] or *dhp-no- "expense, investment" [de Vaan]. The -p- in the English word disappeared 16c.

The legal meaning "pronounce judgment upon" evolved in the Latin word. The optative expletive use likely is as old as the theological sense. Damn and its derivatives generally were avoided in print from 18c. to 1930s (the famous line in the film version of "Gone with the Wind" was a breakthrough and required much effort by the studio). Meaning "judge or pronounce (a work) to be bad by public expression" is from 1650s; to damn with faint praise is from Pope.

The noun is recorded from 1610s, "utterance of the word 'damn.'" To be not worth a damn is from 1817. To not give (or care) a damn is by 1760. The adjective is 1775, short for damned; Damn Yankee, the characteristic Southern U.S. term for "Northerner," is attested by 1812 (as damned). Related: Damning.

mid-14c., dampnable, "worthy of condemnation," from Old French damnable and directly from Medieval Latin damnabilis "worthy of condemnation," from Latin damnare "to doom, condemn" (see damn). Meaning "odious, detestable, abominable, deserving of condemnation" is from c. 1400. Related: Damnably (late 14c., dampnably).