Dance Is a Borrowed Word With No Germanic Original
To dance is to move rhythmically to music. English has no native word for it: dance came from French and replaced whatever came before.
To dance is to move rhythmically, usually to music. English has no native word for it. *Dance* arrived from Old French in the 1300s and displaced whatever Old English used, most likely *sealtian*, borrowed from Latin, or a word related to *tumble*. For an activity as old as humanity, that is a striking gap in the inherited vocabulary. The French word itself is probably Germanic in origin, so the word may have made a round trip.
- To move to music. *They danced all night.*
- A social event. *A village dance.*
- A style of movement. *Modern dance.*
- Dancer — one who dances. *A ballet dancer.*
- Dance to someone's tune — to obey them. *Dancing to his tune.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | dance | Let's dance. |
| Past | danced | They danced. |
| Noun | dance | A slow dance. |
| Agent | dancer | A dancer. |
| Old French | dancier | To dance. |
- They danced until the band stopped.Verb.
- There is a dance on Saturday.Event.
- He makes them dance to his tune.Idiom.
Dance idioms
- Dance to someone's tune — do as they wish
- It takes two to tango — both parties share responsibility
- Lead someone a merry dance — cause them trouble, British
- Song and dance — an unnecessary fuss
- Dance around a subject — avoid addressing it directly
Old French *dancier*, of uncertain origin, possibly from Frankish. English adopted it in the 1300s, displacing the older native vocabulary.
What did Old English call dancing?
The evidence is thin. Words like sealtian, borrowed from Latin saltare, appear, but no native word survived into modern English.
What does lead someone a merry dance mean?
British informal for causing someone a great deal of trouble or wasted effort.