From Middle English demen ("to judge; to criticize, condemn; to impose a penalty on, sentence; to direct, order; to believe, think, deem"), from Old English dēman ("to decide, decree, deem, determine, judge; to condemn, doom, sentence; to consider, examine, reckon, think; to prove; to compute, estimate; to declare, tell; to glorify, praise"), from Proto-Germanic *dōmijaną ("to judge, think"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ("to set, put"). The word is cognate with Danish dømme ("to judge"), Dutch doemen ("to condemn, foredoom"), North Frisian dema ("to judge, recognise"), Norwegian Bokmål dømme ("to judge"), Norwegian Nynorsk døma ("to judge"), Swedish döma ("to judge, sentence, condemn"). It is also related to doom.
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