An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Kleister

by Friedrich Kluge

Kleister, masculine and feminine, ‘paste,’ from the equivalent Middle High German klîster, masculine, with the equivalent variant klënster based on the verb klënen; Old High German chlîstar and Gothic *kleistra- are wanting; stra is a suffix, as in Laster; the stem klî is the root klî, by gradation klai, ‘to cleave (to)’ (discussed under Klei and klein), which forms a verb only in Old High German, but it passes at the same time into the e-class, chlënan, ‘to cleave (to), smear,’ for kli-na-n, with na as a suffix of the present, as in Latin and Greek (sper-ne-re, li-ne-re, δάκνειν, &c.); compare Middle High German klënen, verb, Icelandic klína, ‘to smear,’ klíningr, ‘bread and butter,’ klístra, ‘to paste.’