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Origin and history of depth

depth(n.)

late 14c., "a deep place, deep water, the sea," also "distance or extension from the top down (opposed to height) or from without inward," apparently formed in Middle English on model of long/length, broad/breadth; from dēp "deep" (see deep (adj.)) + -th (2). Replaced older deopnes "deepness." Though the word is not recorded in Old English, the formation was in Proto-Germanic, *deupitho-, and corresponds to Old Saxon diupitha, Dutch diepte, Old Norse dypð, Gothic diupiþa.

From c. 1400 as "the part of anything most remote from the boundary or outer limit." From 1520s as "quality of extending a considerable distance downward or inward." Figurative use in reference to thought, ideas, etc., "profoundness," from 1580s.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to depth

deep(adj.)

Old English deop "having considerable extension downward," especially as measured from the top or surface, also figuratively, "profound, awful, mysterious; serious, solemn," from Proto-Germanic *deupaz (source also of Old Saxon diop, Old Frisian diap, Dutch diep, Old High German tiof, German tief, Old Norse djupr, Danish dyb, Swedish djup, Gothic diups "deep"), from PIE root *dheub- "deep, hollow" (source also of Lithuanian dubus "deep, hollow," Old Church Slavonic duno "bottom, foundation," Welsh dwfn "deep," Old Irish domun "world," via sense development from "bottom" to "foundation" to "earth" to "world").

By early 14c. "extensive in any direction analogous to downward," as measured from the front. From late 14c. of sound, "low in pitch, grave," also of color, "intense." By c. 1200, of persons, "sagacious, of penetrating mind." From 1560s, of debt., etc., "closely involved, far advanced."

Deep pocket as figurative of wealth is from 1951. To go off the deep end "lose control of oneself" is slang recorded by 1921, probably in reference to the deep end of a swimming pool, where a person on the surface can no longer touch bottom. Deep waters by 1530s were figurative of something too much for comfort or safety.

When 3-D films seemed destined to be the next wave and the biggest thing to hit cinema since talkies, they were known as deepies (1953).

in-depth(adj.)

"profoundly, with careful attention and deep insight," 1967, from the adjective phrase (attested by 1959); see in (adv.) + depth.

-th(2)

suffix forming nouns of action, state, or quality from verbs or adjectives (such as birth, bath, depth, death, growth, strength, truth, math (n.2)), from Old English -ðu, -ð, from Proto-Germanic *-itho (cognates: Old Norse -þ, Old High German -ida, Gothic -iþa), abstract noun suffix, from PIE *-ita (cognates: Sanskrit -tati-; Greek -tet-; Latin -tati-, as in libertatem "liberty" from liber "free"). Sometimes in English reduced to -t, especially after -h- (as in height).

Formerly more widespread (Middle English had stilþe "silence," c. 1200; wrengthe "wrongness, crookedness, distortion," c. 1300), and in recent centuries often tempting to new coinages (17c. swelth "swelling;" Ruskin's illth).

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    Mark
    Clemens (1835-1910), who had been a riverboat pilot; he took his pen name from the cry mark twain, the call indicating a depth...in a specialized sense of "measured notification (a piece of knotted cloth, etc.) on a lead-line indicating fathoms of depth...
    plutonic
    Plutonic rocks are such igneous rocks as have been formed under conditions of depth and pressure, and have cooled slowly,...distinctly crystalline structure ; the term Plutonic is opposed to volcanic, the former designating rocks formed at some depth...
    pachy-
    , stout,"  from PIE *bhengh- "thick, fat" (source also of Sanskrit bahu- "much, numerous;" Avestan bazah- "height, depth...
    shoal
    "shallow, of little depth," an oblique case of sceald "shallow," from Proto-Germanic *skala- (source also of Swedish skäll...
    precipice
    Earlier in English as a verb (1590s) meaning "fall to great depth."...
    sound
    "fathom, probe, measure the depth of water" with or as if with a sounding line and lead, mid-14c....
    abyss
    from abyssos "bottomless, unfathomed," hence, generally, "enormous, unfathomable," also as a noun, he abyssos "the great depth...This is a compound of a- "without" (see a- (3)) + byssos "bottom," a word of uncertain origin possibly related to bathos "depth...
    attribute
    late 14c., "assign, bestow," from Latin attributus, past participle of attribuere "assign to, allot, commit, entrust;" figuratively "to attribute, ascribe, impute," from assimilated form of ad "to" (see ad-) + tribuere "assign, give, bestow" (see tribute). Related: Attributed; at
    grade
    1510s, "degree of measurement," from French grade "grade, degree" (16c.), from Latin gradus "a step, a pace, gait; a step climbed (on a ladder or stair);" figuratively "a step toward something, a degree of something rising by stages," from gradi (past participle gressus) "to walk
    ignore
    1610s, "not to know, to be ignorant of," from French ignorer "be unaware of" (14c.), or directly from Latin ignorare "not to know, be unacquainted; take no notice of, disregard" (see ignorant). The original sense in English is obsolete. Sense of "pass over without notice, pay no

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