du (German)
Where does "du" come from?
The German pronoun 'du' traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. It evolved through Proto-Germanic and Proto-West Germanic as *þū before settling into Old and Middle High German. This linguistic path reveals a deep ancestry shared with the archaic English word 'thou'.
Full etymology tree
- du (German), 'you (singular familiar), thou'
- inherited du, duo, dū (Middle High German)
- inherited dū (Old High German), 'thou, you (second-person singular pronoun)'
- inherited *þū (Proto-West Germanic), 'you (singular)'
- inherited *þū (Proto-Germanic), 'you (singular), thou'
- inherited *túh₂ (Proto-Indo-European), 'you, thou (second-person singular pronoun)'
- inherited *ti- (Proto-Indo-European)
- influence 𒍣𒄿𒅅 (zīk) (Hittite), 'you, thou (sg.)'
- inherited *ti- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *túh₂ (Proto-Indo-European), 'you, thou (second-person singular pronoun)'
- inherited *þū (Proto-Germanic), 'you (singular), thou'
- inherited *þū (Proto-West Germanic), 'you (singular)'
- inherited dū (Old High German), 'thou, you (second-person singular pronoun)'
- inherited du, duo, dū (Middle High German)
Ancestors
- du (Middle High German)
- du (Old High German)
- *þū (Proto-West Germanic)
- *þū (Proto-Germanic)
- *túh₂ (Proto-Indo-European)
Cognates and doublets
- thou (English)
- thu (Old Saxon)
Descendants and derived words
- Du (German)
- Du (German)
- duzen (German)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris