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Dane

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "dane"

English

Etymology

From Middle English Dane, from Old Norse danir or Old English Dene. Both forms ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic *daniz.

Pronunciation

Noun

Dane (plural Danes)

  1. A person of Danish descent.
  2. A person from Denmark.
    • 2012 June 9, Owen Phillips, “Euro 2012: Netherlands 0-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 9 September 2025:
      But the Danes remained resolute in defence - largely thanks to a spirited display by captain Daniel Agger - and they went ahead with their first meaningful attack.
    • 2025 July 5, Sebastian Shukla, “Denmark has long been Euroskeptic. Donald Trump helped change that”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 26 July 2025:
      As Denmark takes over the presidency of the European Union, Danes are more strongly pro-European than at any time in the past two decades – a shift in sentiment that can at least partly be attributed to US President Donald Trump.
  3. (historical) In Anglo-Saxon England, any of the seafaring raiders and settlers who attacked and colonized parts of England from the late 8th century onward; a Viking.
  4. (historical) A member of the Danes, a Germanic tribe inhabiting the Danish islands and parts of southern Sweden.
    • 1881, John Kirby Hedges, The history of Wallingford‎, volume 1, page 170:
      Kenett states that the military works still known by the name of Tadmarten Camp and Hook-Norton Barrow were cast up at this time; the former, large and round, is judged to be a fortification of the Danes, and the latter, being smaller and rather a quinquangle than a square, of the Saxons.
    • 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 54:
      I have wrestled the hilt
      from the enemies' hand, avenged the evil
      done to the Danes; it is what is due.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Proper noun

Dane

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname for someone who came from Denmark, also a variant of Dean.
    • 1913, Harry Leon Wilson, Bunker Bean, BiblioBazaar, LLC, published 2008, →ISBN, page 13:
      Often he wrote good ones on casual slips and fancied them his; names like Trevellyan or Montressor or Delancey, with musical prefixes; or a good, short, beautiful, but dignified name like "Gordon Dane". He liked that one. It suggested something.
    • 2025 April 10, Dan Heching, “Eric Dane shares that he has been diagnosed with ALS”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 22 April 2025:
      In “Euphoria,” Dane plays Cal Jacobs, the troubled father to Jacob Elordi’s character in the HBO drama, which is scheduled to begin production on its third season on April 14.
  2. A male given name transferred from the surname, or from the ethnic term Dane (like Scott or Norman).
    • 1977, Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds, Gramercy Books, published 1998, →ISBN, pages 432–433:
      "I'm going to call him Dane."
      "What a queer name! Why? Is it an O'Neill family name? I thought you were finished with the O'Neills."
      "It's got nothing to do with Luke. This is his name, no one else's. - - - I called Justine Justine simply because I liked the name, and I'm calling Dane Dane for the same reason."
      "Well, it does have a nice ring to it," Fee admitted.
  3. A river, the River Dane, in Cheshire, England, which joins the River Weaver at Northwich.

Anagrams

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Czech

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Dane

  1. vocative singular of Dan

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Norse danir (whether directly or through Old French Dan) or Old English Dene, both from Proto-Germanic *daniz.

Pronunciation

Noun

Dane (plural Danes)

  1. Dane

Descendants

  • English: Dane

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