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Zah
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Zau

zahm, adj., ‘tame, tractable, docile,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. zam; corresponding to Du. tam, AS. tǫm, ‘E. tame, and OIc. tamr, ‘tame, domesticated.’ Allied to zähmen, vb., ‘to tame, domesticate, break in, check,’ from MidHG. zęmen (zęmmen), OHG. zęmmen (from *zamjan), wk. vb., ‘to tame’; corresponding to Goth. gatamjan, OIc. temja, Du. temmen, ‘to tame.’ The connection between the Teut. cognates and Lat. domare, Gr. δαμᾶν, Sans. damáy (damany), ‘to subdue, compel,’ is undoubted. The relation of these cognates based on dom, ‘to subdue,’ to a similar root appearing in ModHG. ziemen (Teut. root tem, ‘to be suitable, be fitted’) is obscure. OHG. zęmmen, ‘to tame,’ looks as if it were a causative of OHG. zëman, ‘to be adapted, suit excellently.’ In that case it is remarkable that the primary verb has been preserved in Teut. only; but was it perhaps deduced from the causative? (see wecken).

Zahn, m., ‘tooth,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zan, zant (d), OHG. zan, zand, m.; common to Teut. and also to Aryan. Comp. OSax. and Du. tand, AS. tôþ (from *tanþ), E. tooth, Goth. tunþus. Teut. tanþ-, tunþ- (from Aryan dont-, dnt-), is primit. allied to Lat. dens (stem dent-), Gr. ὁδούς (stem ὀδοντ-), Sans. dat (nom. sing. dan), danta, Lith. dantìs, OIr. dét, ‘tooth.’ The Aryan primit. stem dont- (dnt-) is in form the pres. partic. of the root ed, ‘to eat,’ with apocope of the initial vowel (see essen); hence Zahn is lit. ‘the eating organ’ (for the Teut. suffix of the pres. partic. -and-, -und-, see Feind, Freund, and Heiland). To this word Zinne is allied.

Zähre, f., ‘tear,’ properly neut. plur. of MidHG. zaher (*zacher), OHG. zahar (zahhar), m.; the form with ch in MidHG. is inferred from the derivative zęchern, zachern, ‘to weep’ (OHG. hhr from hr). Comp. AS. teár (from *teahor, with the variant tœhher), E. tear, OIc. tár (for *tahr-), Goth. tagr, n., ‘tear.’ A primit. Teut. word in the form dakru, which is presupposed by Gr. δάκρυ, Lat. lacruma (for earlier dacruma), OIr. dacr (dér), ‘tear.’ The equiv. Sans. áçru, if it stands for *daçru, is abnormal.

Zange, f., ‘tongs, pincers,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zange, OHG. zanga, f.; corresponding to Du. tang, AS. tǫnge, E. tongs, and the equiv. OIc. tǫng. The common Teut. tangô- assumes a pre-Teut. dankâ-,

which is usually connected with the Sans. root danç (daç), ‘to bite’ (comp. Gr. δάκνω); hence Zange, lit. ‘biter.’ Comp. OHG. zangar, MidHG. zanger, ‘biting, sharp, lively,’ whence Ital. tanghero, ‘unpolished, coarse.’

zanken, vb., ‘to quarrel,’ from late MidHG. zanken, zęnken, ‘to dispute’; a remarkably late word, not recorded in the earlier Teut. periods. Perhaps MidHG. zanke (a variant of Zinke), ‘prong, point,’ is the base of zanken, which must then have meant ‘to be pointed.’

Zapfe, m., ‘peg, plug, tap, bung,’ from MidHG. zapfe, m., ‘tap, espec. in a beer or wine cask’ (also zapfen, ‘to pour out from a tap’), OHG. zapfo, ‘peg, plug.’ Corresponding to North Fris. tâp. Du. tap, AS. tœppa, E. tap, and the equiv. OIc. tappe. From the Teut. cognates are borrowed the equiv. Fr. tape and Ital. zaffo (Spund, on the other hand, was borrowed from Romance). Teut. tappon- cannot be traced back to the other primit. allied languages; only Zipfel seems to be related to these cognates.

zappeln, vb., ‘to move convulsively, sprawl, flounder,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zappeln. a variant of zabeln, OHG. zabalôn (zappalôn?), ‘to sprawl.’ A specifically HG., probably of recent onomatopoetic origin.

Zarge, f., ‘border, edge, setting, groove,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zarge, OHG. zarga, f. Corresponding with as change of meaning to AS. and OIc. targa, ‘shield’ (lit. ‘shield border’), whence Fr. targe, Ital. targa, ‘shield’ (whence MidHG. and ModHG. tartsche, E. target, are borrowed). The remoter history of the cognates is obscure.

zart, adj., ‘tender, soft, fragile, nice,’ from MidHG. and OHG. zart, adj., ‘dear, beloved, precious, confidential, fine, beautiful’; unknown to the other OTeut. dialects. Like the properly equiv. traut, zart appears to be a partic. with the suffix to-. Teut. tar-do, from Aryan dr-tó- (comp. satt, tot), is most closely related to the Zend partic. dereta, ‘honoured’; comp. Sans. â-dṛ, ‘to direct one's attention to something.’ The Teut. word cannot have been borrowed from Lat. carus, ‘dear.’

Zaser, f., ‘fibre, filament,’ ModHG. only, unknown to the earlier periods (older ModHG. zasel, Swed. zasem). Origin obscure.

Zauber, m., ‘charm, enchantment, magic,’ from MidHG. zouber (zouver), OHG.