Etymology: Of uncertain derivation. The sense seems to make it distinct fromdene , dean n.², and suggests affinity to Low German düne (now also modern German), East Frisian and North Frisian düne, dün, Dutch duin, sand-hill on the coast: also French dune in same sense. But its relationship to these words is phonetically uncertain, and rendered more so by the existence of the form den. Relationship to German tenne floor, perhaps originally ‘a flat’, has also been suggested; but the history of the word does not go back far enough to admit of any certain conclusion.

Etymology: < dene (in bedene adv.), by false analysis: see explanation in definition.

Etymology: < Latin dēni.

Etymology: Partly (in α. forms) < a noun in an Athabaskan language (compare e.g. Chipewyan dëne , Slave dene , both lit. ‘person’, also used as a self-designation denoting the Dene group of peoples collectively), and partly (in β. forms) < an unrelated second element occurring in various names of northern Athabaskan peoples (e.g. the Bearlake self-designation sahtú got’ine, lit. ‘people of the bear lake’), which was subsequently confused (by European observers) with the noun cited above (see note). Compare French Déné, †Tinné (1872 or earlier).In the spelling systems used for the Athabaskan languages (originally developed for Navajo), d represents a voiceless unaspirated /t/. This probably led to the confusion of the two distinct etymons by English speakers. The English pronunciation with initial voiced /d/ is a spelling pronunciation.