An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Nest

by Friedrich Kluge

Nest, neuter, ‘nest, haunt,’ from Middle High German and Old High German nëst, neuter, ‘nest, resting-place for birds and also for sucking animals’; corresponding to Middle Low German, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, and English nest; Gothic *nista- is wanting. The cognates are primitively; the Old Teutonic form previous to the permutation of consonants was nizdo-, which is indicated likewise b Sanscrit nîḍa-s, ‘lair of animals,’ also ‘dwelling,’ as well as by Old Irish net, ‘nest,’ Latin nîdus, ‘nest,’ for *nizdus (Lithuanian lìzdas and Slavonic gnězdo, ‘nest,’ are abnormal). The form nizdo- is properly a compound of the root sed, ‘to sit, seat oneself,’ and the verbal particle ni preserved in Sanscrit (see nieder); nizdo-, from ni-sedó-, therefore means literally ‘place of settling’; compare Sanscrit ni-sad, ‘to sit down, settle.’ In Latin and Teutonic nîdus and nest assumed the special meaning ‘bird's nest’; similarly in Scandinavian a general word for ‘couch’ (Greek κοίτη) was restricted to a bear's haunt (Old Icelandic híþ); it belongs, like Greek κοίτη, κεῖμαι to the Aryan root çî, ‘to lie’). The Gothic term for ‘nest’ is sitl, literally ‘seat,’ which therefore is of a cognate root with Nest.