Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/79

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day’ (for a similar change of meaning comp. Sache); the corresponding Scand. þing (thing), meaning ‘judicial transaction, court-day, court of justice,’ is well known. The OTeut. þing (Lomb. thinx) is therefore connected with the old mahal, maþl, as ‘assembly of the people’ (see Gemahl). In Eng. the subst. (AS. þing, n., E. thing) has essentially the ModHG. meaning; but the deriv. þingan, ‘to make a treaty,’ þingian, ‘to settle, adjust,’ and þingung, ‘mediation,’ imply also ‘treaty, discussion.’ In ModHG. a remnant of the earlier meaning remained in dingen, from MidHG. ‘to hold a court, negotiate, make a treaty’ (whence ModHG. Bedingung, ‘stipulation’), and specially ‘to conclude a bargain, buy, hire’ (also generally ‘to talk,’ like AS. þingian, ‘to talk’); so, too, in vertheidigen, Dienstag. Hence the primary meaning of the subst. is ‘public transaction in the folk-moot,’ lit. ‘term’; this is supported by Goth. þeihs, ‘time,’ from pre-Teut. ténkos (equal to Lat. tempus). The Aryan base of Lomb. thinx, OHG. ding, is tenkos. The OBulg. tęza, f., ‘judicial transaction,’ is of Teut. origin.

Dinkel, m., from the equiv. MidHG. dinkel, OHG. dinchil, m., ‘bearded wheat, spelt’; of obscure origin.

Dinte, see Tinte.

Diptam, m., ‘dittany,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dictam, diptam; borrowed from Gr. δίπταμνος.

Dirne, f., ‘lass, hussy, wench’ (not found in UpG.), from MidHG. dirne, dierne, OHG. diorna, ‘maid-servant, girl, wench,’ Comp. Du. deern, OSax. thiorna, OIc. þerna, f.; in Goth. probably *þiwaírnô; comp. widuwaírna, ‘orphan,’ orig. sense perhaps ‘widow's son.’ Thus, too, *þiwaírnô, ‘menial's, thrall's daughter, who is therefore herself a slave, i.e, a servant.’ The deriv. syllable is a diminutive suffix (comp. Eichhorn); the stem is indisputably þiwa-, ‘menial.’ For further cognates, see dienen, Degen.

Distel, f., ‘thistle,’ from the equiv. MidHG. distel, m. and f., OHG. distila, f., distil, m.; corresponds to Du. and LG. distel, AS. þistel, E. thistle, OIc. þistell. Modern LG. and Eng. dialects have î in the accented syllable; hence the root is þī̆st? Akin to Goth. wiga-deinô, ‘milk-thistle’?.

Döbel, m., ‘peg, wedge,’ from MidHG. tübel. m., ‘pin, plug, nail’; OHG. tubilî, n., ‘plug’ Comp. E. dowel, Du. deuvik,

‘plug.’ The Teut. root dub, upon which it is based, appears in Swed. dubba; so, too, perbups in Lith. dùbti, ‘to get hollow,’ daubà, důbě, ‘pit.’ The d of the ModHG. word is due to MidG. influence.

doch, conj., ‘yet, however,’ from MidHG. doch, OHG. dŏh, ‘yet,’ also ‘although’; ŏ, on account of the toneless nature of the conj., is shortened from ô; Goth. þáuh, corresponding to AS. þeáh, E. though. Scarcely from þa (variant of þata, HG. daȥ) and uh, ‘and.’ Goth. þauh is lit. ‘and that’?.

Docht, m., ‘wick.’ The strictly ModHG. form should be dacht, which is still dialectal, as well as the variant tacht, with the t from þ, as in tausend, MidHG. and OHG. tâkt, m., n.; comp. OIc. þáttr, ‘thread, wick.’ A Teut. root, þêh, þêg, still appears in Swiss dœgel, ‘wick,’ Bav. dâhen, Alsat. dôche, ‘wick.’ In the non-Teut. languages no primit. root têk has as yet been found. For another OTeut. term for Docht, see under Wieche.

Dock, n., ‘dock,’ simply ModHG; from the equiv. E. dock, the origin of which is very obscure. From E. and Du. (dok) the word was adopted by Swed., Dan., ModHG., and ModFr.

Docke, s., ‘doll,’ from MidHG. tocke, f., ‘doll,’ also ‘young girl,’ OHG. toccha, ‘doll.’ The word is not sound in the oldest periods of the other dialects, nor can the ModHG. meanings, ‘skein, yarn,’ be authenticated from MidHG., OHG., and the early stages of cognate languages; yet there is no reason to doubt the real Teut. origin of the word.

Dogge, f., ‘bulldog, mastiff’ simply ModHG., from the equiv. Du. and E. dog (from about 1050 A.D. the word occurs in AS. as docga), whence also Fr. dogue. With regard to HG. gg, as a proof of a word being borrowed from LG., comp. Flagge.

Dohle, f., ‘jackdaw,’ from the equiv. MidHG. tâhele, tâle, tâhe, OHG. tâha, f.; primary form *dêhwô, dêwô, according to AS. *dâwe, E. daw, whence also E. caddow, ‘daw’ (the first part of the compound is AS. câ, Du. kâ, OHG. châha, ‘daw’; so, too, E. chough). From Teut. þâhwalô is derived Ital. taccola, ‘magpie.’

Dohne, f., ‘gin, noose, springe,’ from MidHG. don, done, f., ‘stretching,’ OHG. dona, ‘branch twig.’ Dohne is the ‘branch bent or stretched for catching birds.’ The Aryan root ten, ‘to stretch, extend,’ is discussed under dehnen, dünn. OBulg. tonoto,