Borrowed from Old Norse 'deyja' during the Viking Age, replacing native 'steorfan' (which narrowed to become 'starve').
To cease to live; to stop existing; to expire.
From Old Norse 'deyja' meaning 'to die, to pass away,' from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (to die), from PIE root *dʰew- meaning 'to pass away, to become senseless.' English 'die' is a Scandinavian loanword that replaced the native Old English verbs 'steorfan' (which survives as 'starve,' now narrowed to death by hunger) and 'sweltan' (which became 'swelter' with shifted meaning). The Viking-age import of 'die' is one