An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/dicht

by Friedrich Kluge

dicht, adjective, ‘close, dense,’ dialectic deicht (Liv. and Esthonian), from Middle High German dîhte, ‘dense.’ The absence of the diphthong is probably due to Low German, since the word does not occur in Upper German (Suabian and Bavarian). Corresponds to Old Icelandic þéttr, ‘dense’ (related to Gothic *þeihts, as léttr, ‘light,’ to Gothic leihts); allied to the Teutonic root þinh (see gedeihen), just as Gothic leihts to the root ling (see gelingen). English tight, from Middle English tîht, has an abnormal t for th initially, probably due to the influence of Swedish and Danish tœt; in Middle English the normal thîht is also found. For another derivation see dick.