# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/G (full text)

| This annotated version expands the abbreviations in the original entry G (full text). | Random word Special:RandomInCategory/Annotated entries in Kluge's Etymological Dictionary of the German Language |
* A - B - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S-Sch - Se-Su - T - U - V - W - Z
G.
Gabe, feminine, ‘gift,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gâbe, feminine; Old High German *gâba and Gothic *gêba are wanting; instead Old High German gëba (Middle High German gëbe with the dialectic variant gippe), feminine, occurs, Old Saxon gëba, Anglo-Saxon gifu, Old Icelandic gjǫf, Gothic giba, feminine, ‘gift.’ The forms corresponding to the assumed Gothic *gêba are seen in Dutch gaaf and Old Swedish gáfa.
gäbe, adjective, ‘acceptable, in vogue, stylish,’ from Middle High German gœbe (Old High German *gâbi), adjective, ‘acceptable, dear, good’; Gothic *gêbi- is related to giban (see geben), just as nêms is to niman (see gänge, angenehm); compare Old Icelandic gœ̂fr, ‘salutary,’ Dutch gaaf, ‘suitable.’
Gabel, feminine, ‘fork, shafts (of a vehicle),’ from the equivalent Middle High German gabele, gabel, Old High German gabala, gabal, feminine; corresponding to Dutch gaffel (hence Modern Icelandic gaffall, ‘fork’), Anglo-Saxon rarely, geaful, masculine, ‘fork’ (for which, even in the Anglo-Saxon period, forc, English fork occurs). Gabel seems to be related by gradation to Giebel, and in that case the oldest shape of the fork must have been a sort of acute angle like a gable. Yet the supposition that the word was borrowed is not to be rejected, especially since ‘the form of an acute angle’ can hardly be the primary meaning of Giebel. Note the correspondence with Keltic words; Old Irish gabul, ‘fork,’ gabhla, ‘shears,’ Welsh gebel, ‘tongs,’ Latin gabalus ‘(gable-shaped) gallows’; to these also Old Indian gábhasti, ‘fork, shaft,’ may be allied, in which case it would follow that the West Teutonic Gabel is perhaps primitively allied to the Keltic classical.
gackern, gacksen, verb, ‘to cackle, chatter,’ simply Modern High German; imitative forms like Middle High German gâgen, ‘to cackle like a goose.’ akin to Dutch gagelen, ‘to gabble,’ and even in Old High German gackizôn, ‘to mutter,’ gagizôn, gackazzen, ‘to bawl,’ Middle High German gagzen, ‘to cluck like a hen laying.’ Compare Scandinavian gagga, ‘to howl like a fox,’ gagl, ‘wild goose,’ English to gaggle.
Gaden, Gadem, masculine and neuter, ‘room, cottage, storey,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German gaden, gadem, neuter, ‘house containing one room only,’ then generally ‘apartment, chamber,’ Old High German gadum, gadaum, neuter; originally a merely Upper German word, which found its way, however, even into Low German. Akin to Gothic *gatm (from ga- and tmo-, the latter related to Greek δόμος, μεσό-δμη, and High German Zimmer)?. Less probably allied to Anglo-Saxon geat, English gate (compare Dutch gat, ‘opening,’ under Gasse). At all events, the connection with Greek χιτών, ‘garment,’ is impossible.
gaffen, verb, ‘to gape at,’ from the equivalent Middle High German (Middle German) gaffen, Old High German *gaffên (deduced from Old High German geffida, feminine, ‘contemplation’); Gothic *gapan is wanting. The ordinary Middle High German and Old High German words for the modern gaffen are kapfen and chapfên (Gothic *kappan, verb, is wanting). Hence, according to the sounds, the two words are radically different; in the Modern High German period, Middle High German kapfen has given way to gaffen. The latter signifies literally ‘to look on with open mouth;’ compare Dutch gapen and the equivalent English to gape, Old Icelandic gapa, ‘to open the mouth wide,’ gap, ‘chaos.’ The Teutonic root gap, ‘to gape,’ is allied to Sanscrit root jabh, ‘to snap’?.
gähe, see jäh.
gähnen, verb, ‘to yawn, gape,’ from the equivalent Middle High German ginen (genen, geinen), Old High German ginên (geinôn); Modern High German ae for ĕ. Gothic *gi- nai-, from the root gī̆, ‘to gape’; compare Anglo-Saxon ginian, gânian, ‘to gape.’ Old Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon possess a strong verb formed from the root gī̆, and n originally a suffix of the present stem — Old Icelandic gína, Anglo-Saxon tôgînan, ‘to bark’; compare also Old Icelandic gin, neuter, ‘jaw of animals.’ Old High German gîên, ‘to gape,’ is formed without the suffix n; so too with a derivative w, Old High German giwên, gëwôn, Middle High German giwen, gëwen, ‘to open the mouth wide.’ The Teutonic root gī̆, from pre-Teutonic ghī̆, is widely diffused, especially in West Teutonic. Compare Latin hiare (for Latin h, representing Teutonic g, see Gerste and Gast), Old Slovenian zijati, ‘to gape, bark,’ Lithuanian żióti, ‘tó ‘to open the mouth wide’; Old Irish gin, ‘mouth’ (Old Icelandic gin); Latin hisco; Greek χειά, ‘hole,’ for χειϝά?.
Galgant, masculine, ‘galangal,’ from the equivalent Middle High German galgan, galgân, galgant, masculine; compare Middle English galingale, English galangal; a medicinal herb of the Middle Ages, known under the same name to Romance (compare Italian galanga, French galanga — Middle Latin galanga; also Middle ​Greek γαλάγγα). The origin of the term has probably been rightly ascribed to the East; some etymologists compare it with Arab galang.
Galgen, masculine, ‘gallows, gibbet, crossbeam,’ from Middle High German galge, Old High German galgo, masculine, ‘gallows (also applied to the cross of Christ), frame over a well from which the bucket is hung to draw water.’ It corresponds to Old Saxon galgo, Dutch galg, Anglo-Saxon gealga, English gallows (the plural used as a singular, yet compare gallow-tree), Old Icelandic galge, ‘gallows,’ Gothic galga, masculine (applied to the cross of Christ, as also in all the other Old Teutonic dialects); a common Teutonic word, Teutonic galgan-, pre-Teutonic ghalgha-; compare Lithuanian żalga, feminine, ‘pole.’ Note the double sense of the Middle High German and Old High German word. Probably some such idea as a ‘long pliable rod’ is the starting-point of the various meanings of the cognates.
Gallapfel, masculine, ‘gall, gall-nut,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, from Latin galla, whence also, probably, the equivalent Anglo-Saxon galloc; compare English oak-gall (galloak). See Galle (2.).
Galle (1.), feminine, ‘gall, bile,’ from the equivalent Middle High German galle, Old High German galla, feminine; common to Teutonic in the same sense (only in Gothic is the weak neuter *gallô not recorded); compare Old Saxon galla, Dutch gal, Anglo-Saxon gealla, Old Icelandic gall, neuter. Like a great number of terms relating to the body (see Fuß, Herz, Niere, Nase, Ohr), Galle too has numerous correspondences in the cognate languages, which points to the antiquity of the Aryan term (Gothic *gallin- or *galzin-, from pre-Teutonic ghal-); compare Greek χολή, χόλος, Latin fel, fellis, neuter, ‘gall.’ Many etymologists connect the word with gelb (Old High German gëlo), as if gall was named from its colour; Old Slovenian žlŭčĭ, ‘gall’ (from *gĭlkĭ), is certainly allied to Russian želknutĭ, ‘to turn yellow.’
Galle (2.), feminine, ‘barbel,’ from Middle High German galle, feminine, ‘swelling above the knee on the hind-leg of a horse’; compare English gall (swelling, sore spot, gall-nut); it is questionable whether Gall-Apfel is allied to the word. Also in Romance, Italian galla and Spanish agulla, signify ‘swelling, tumour, gall-nut.’ Hence the Latin-Romance galla, ‘gall-nut,’ was perhaps the source of the Teutonic terms. Yet it is possible that the foreign word has been confused with a Teutonic word similar in sound, especially since Swedish dialects also have a term gräsgaller, ‘swelling on the hoof of a horse.’
Gallerte, feminine, ‘jelly, from Middle High German galhert, galhart, galreide, feminine, ‘jelly of animal and vegetable matter.’ Middle Latin galatina, ‘jelly,’ as well as French gelée (from Latin gelare), cannot, for phonetic reasons, serve as the source of the Middle High German word; the origin is still obscure.
Galmei, masculine, ‘calamine,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, with the older variant Kalmei; once in Middle High German kalemîne; from Middle Latin and Romance; compare Middle Latin lapis calaminaris, French calamine; earlier Latin cadmia, Greek καδμεία, ‘calamine.’
Galopp, masculine, ‘gallop,’ borrowed from French galop, even in the Middle High German period, as is proved by Middle High German galopieren, of which the variant walopieren occurs (compare Middle High German walap, ‘galop,’ English wallop). The Romance words on which they are based are derived by some etymologists from a Teutonic source, though it cannot be assigned to any satisfactory root; some assume a Goth-Teutonic *walh-hlaup, which is supposed to denote a Keltic method of trotting.
Gamander, masculine, ‘germander,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gamandrê; from Middle Latin chamandreus, gamandraea, which is based upon Greek χαμαίδρυς, χαμαίδρυον, ‘germander.’
Ganerbe, masculine, ‘joint-heir, co-proprietor,’ from Middle High German ganerbe (from ge-an-erbe), masculine, ‘next co-heir, especially a co-heir with the right of obtaining the property of his fellow-inheritors at their death,’ Old High German ganarbo, ‘co-heir’ (Gothic *gaána-arbja, masculine). The prefix ga, representing Latin con-, ‘together with,’ was current in Old Teutonic. See Genoß, Geselle.
Gang, masculine, ‘going, movement, gait, passage,’ M the equivalent Middle High German ganc(g), Old High German gang, masculine, ‘gait, walking’; corresponding to Old Saxon gang, Dutch gang, Anglo-Saxon gong, masculine, ‘walking, gait’ (compare English gang, gangway, and gangweek), Old Icelandic gangr, neuter, ‘gait, walking,’ Gothic gaggs, ‘lane.’ Also in older Teutonic a strong verb gangan, ‘to go,’ of which only the preterite ging and the participle gegangen are still current in Modern High German. In East Teutonic, in which gehen is wanting, ganga (Old Icelandic) and gaggan (Gothic) have a wider range; yet compare Old Swedish and Old Danish ga, ‘to go.’ In West Teutonic part of gehen has been lost; in English, differing in this respect from German, the older gangan has become entirely obsolete. Teutonic root gang, pre-Teutonic ghangh. The only correspondences in other Aryan languages are Sanscrit jáṅghâ, feminine, ‘leg, foot,’ Lithuanian żengiù (żèngti), ‘to step,’ akin to Lithuanian prażanga, ‘trespass.’
gänge, adjective, ‘current, in vogue, ​customary,’ from Middle High German gęnge, Old High German gęngi, ‘ordinary, scattered,’ originally ‘capable of going, or rather of circulating’; a verbal adjective from the root gang (see the preceding word), formed like gäbe, angenehm, flügge.
Gans, feminine, ‘goose,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gans, Old High German gans, feminine; a common Teutonic term for ‘goose,’ unrecorded in Gothic only, in which *gans, feminine (plural *gans) may have been the form (compare Spanish ganso, adopted from it). To this correspond Anglo-Saxon gôs (ô from an before s), plural gês (owing to the i mutation), feminine, English goose, plural geese; Old Icelandic gás, feminine, from pre-Teutonic ghans-; Dutch gans; one of the few names of birds to be ascribed to a primitively Aryan origin, since it recurs in most of the languages of the Aryan group; Sanscrit haṅsá-s, masculine, haṅsî, feminine, ‘goose,’ Modern Persian yâz, Lithuanian żąsìs (Old Slovenian gąsĭ is borrowed from Teutonic), Greek χήν, Latin anser (for *hanser), Old Irish géis, ‘swan’ (from ghansi). The s of Aryan ghans- seems to be a suffix (compare Fuchs, Monat); at least Teutonic words of cognate stem point to ghan- as the more primitive form; compare Old High German ganaȥȥo, Middle High German ganze, genz, masculine, ‘gander,’ Dutch gent, ‘gander,’ Anglo-Saxon ganot, English gannet (‘swan’); Anglo-Saxon gandra, English gander. Pliny informs us that large flocks of geese were kept in Germania, and that the birds or their feathers were sent even to Rome; one species was said to be called gantae by the Teutons; a similar term is known in Romance (Provençal ganta, Old French gante, ‘wild goose’), which borrowed it from Teutonic. To the Teutonic ganta, from pre-Teutonic ganda, the Old Irish géd, ‘goose’ (Lithuanian gàndras, ‘stork’), is primitively allied.
Gänserich, masculine, ‘gander, wild tansy,’ Modern High German simply, formed like Enterich, from an earlier Ganser (still found in many of the Upper German dialects; in Alsatian gunšter, Middle German gánsert), Middle High German ganȥer, also ganȥe, ganze, masculine, ‘gander.’ Compare Low German gante, Scandinavian gasse for gásse, ‘gander’; see Gans. The plant Genserich is a corruption of an earlier Grenserich; compare French bec d'oie, Italian piè d oca. The Middle High German and Old High German term is gręnsinc (even cęnsing also in Old High German).
Gant, feminine, ‘auction, bankruptcy,’ an Upper German word (unknown to the Suabian dialectic), from Middle High German gant, feminine, ‘sale to the highest bidders, auction.’ Not from French gant, ‘glove.’ It is not true that “affixing a glove (in a symbolical way) has given rise to the terms Gant and Vergantung, denoting a distress on real property.” The term is more-probably derived from Provençal l'encant, Modern French l'encan, ‘auction’ (Italian incanto, from Latin in quantum), whence English cant, ‘auction.’
ganz, adjective, ‘whole, complete, entire,’ from Middle High German and Old High German ganz, adjective, ‘uninjured, complete, whole, healthy,’ properly a High German word simply, which was adopted, however, by the Teutonic dialects of Middle Europe (Danish ganske, Dutch gansch, Old Frisian gans; n would not have been retained before s in a native Danish or Frisian word. The early history of Old High German ganz is obscure; if its primary meaning is ‘encircling,’ it is perhaps connected with Greek χανδάνω, ‘to comprise’; compare Greek χανδός, ‘spacious’?.
gar, adjective (and adverb), ‘finished, ready, done’ (of cooked food), from Middle High German gar (inflected garwer), adjective, gare, adverb, Old High German garo (inflected garawêr), adjective, garo, garawo, adverb, ‘made ready,’ armed, prepared, complete, entire’; corresponding to Old Saxon garo, Anglo-Saxon gearo (adverb, gearwe also), English yare, Olc. gǫrr (adverb gǫrwa), ‘ready, prepared, made’; Gothic *garwa- is wanting. The adjective was really used as a participle, the suffix wo in Indian, combines with the root pac, ‘to cook,’ forming the participle pakvâ-s, ‘cooked, done’ (of food). Besides Anglo-Saxon gearo, ‘ready,’ a remarkable form, earo, is found with the same meaning, and in Old Saxon aru as well as gara; these forms point to Gothic *garwa and *arwa, ‘prepared, made ready.’ Hence some have identified the two classes regarding the g of *garwa- as the remnant of the verbal particle Gothic ga (High German ge).
Garbe (1.), feminine, ‘sheaf,’ from the equivalent Middle High German garbe, Old High German garba, feminine; Corresponding to Old Saxon garba, Dutch garf, ‘sheaf’; literally ‘handful, manipulum.’ Hence from the Sanscrit root gṛbh, ‘to lay hold of, seize,’ grâbhá, ‘handful;’ Lettic grabas, feminine plural, ‘a bundle hastily collected,’ Lithuanian grĕpti, ‘to seize,’ and grópti, ‘to snatch.’ In the High German dialects grappen, grapsen, grippen, &c., are also allied to the Aryan root ghṛbh; so too Dutch grabbelen, English to grabble. The cognates found their way into Romance (French gerbe, feminine, ‘sheaf’).
Garbe (2.), (the same is Schafgarbe, ‘milfoil’), feminine, ‘millefolium,’ from the equivalent Middle High German garwe, Old High German garwa, garawa, feminine, ‘millefolium’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gearewe, feminine, English yarrow, Dutch gerw, ‘millefolium.’ Whether it is related to gar (Teutonic garwa-) is uncertain.
gären, verb, ‘to ferment, effervesce, bubble,’ a combination as to its form of a strong verb Middle High German gëren; jësen; Old High German jësan, ​‘to ferment, foam,’ and the corresponding factitive Middle High German *jern (unrecorded, but Old High German jęrian occurs), ‘to cause to ferment’; Old High German jësan is a strong verb, and jęrjan a weak verb (compare ginësan strong verb, and ginęrian, weak verb). Noun derivatives of the Teutonic root jes retain their s (before t) even as late as Modern High German; see Gischt, under which the cognate nouns from the other Old Teutonic dialects are brought together. The root jes, yes, occurs also in Indian and Greek; compare Greek ζεσ-τός, ‘boiled,’ ζέσ-μα, hence also ζέω for *ζέσω (perfect ξεσ-μαὸ), ‘to boil, bubble’ (ζ for earlier j, y as in ζυγόν, see Joch), Sanscrit root yas, ‘to seethe, boil.’ Considering this agreement of forms with initial j and y, Modern High German gären with g is remarkable; so too Old Icelandic gerþ, ‘yeast’ (but English yeast).
Garn, neuter, ‘yarn, thread, net, snare,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German garn; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gearn, English yarn, Old Icelandic garn, neuter, Dutch garen; the common Teutonic term for ‘yarn’ (Gothic *garn, neuter); the meaning ‘net’ was attached to Garn, even in the Old High German and Middle High German period, but it never obtained in English and Scandinavian. We might assume a root gar with some such meaning as ‘to turn,’ but it is not authenticated. Earlier Teutonic has a series of terms corresponding in sound with Garn and meaning ‘entrails’; compare Old Icelandic gǫrn (plural garner), feminine, ‘gut, intestines, entrails,’ Old High German mittigarni, mittilagarni, neuter, ‘fat found in the middle of the entrails, arvina,’ Anglo-Saxon micgern (cg for dg; compare Anglo-Saxon orceard, English orchard, for ortgeard), ‘arvina’ These words have been connected with Lithuanian żarnà, feminine, ‘gut,’ and Sanscrit hirâ, feminine, ‘gut,’ though the latter may be allied to Latin hîra, feminine, ‘gut,’ and hilla for hirla; likewise Latin haru- in haru-spex, ‘one who examines the entrails, soothsayer,’ and hariolus, ‘soothsayer,’ contain the Aryan root ghar. Perhaps — and nothing further can be sail — all the words discussed above are based on a Teutonic root ghar, ‘to turn.’
garstig, adjective, ‘filthy, foul, obscene,’ an extended form of the late Middle High German garst, adjective, ‘rancid, tasting “high”’; compare Dutch garstig, ‘insipid, rank, rotten’; akin to Old Icelandic gerstr, ‘morose’ (in appearance). Allied to Latin fastidium, ‘disgust, aversion’?. The latter probably represented *farstidium, like tostus for *torstus, from torreo; Latin f initially corresponds to Teutonic g. See under Galle (Latin fel). But it might perhaps be also connected with Latin horridus for *ghorsidus.
Garten, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German garte, Old High German garto, masculine, ‘garden’; corresponding to Old Saxon gardo, Old Frisian garda, masculine, ‘garden’; Gothic garda, masculine, ‘stable.’ Akin to the strong nouns — Gothic gards, masculine, ‘court, house, family’; Old Icelandic garðr, masculine, ‘enclosure, hedge, house, farm,’ Old High German gart, masculine, ‘circle, choral dance,’ Anglo-Saxon geard (English yard), ‘enclosure, garden’ (English garden was borrowed in Middle English from Old French gardin, jardin, which is of German origin). ‘Enclosing,’ and ‘the enclosed space’ are the fundamental ideas of the whole class, which might thus be connected with gürten, Teutonic root gerd, if the correspondences in the cognate languages did not prove that ‘Garten’ is a pre-Teutonic, perhaps a common West Aryan form, which cannot belong to a specifically Teutonic root. But High German Garten is most closely connected with Latin hortus, ‘garden,’ Greek χόρτος, ‘enclosure, yard, farmyard, pasture, hay, grass,’ Old Irish gort, ‘cornfield,’ also Latin co-hors, -tis, feminine, ‘courtyard for cattle and fowls’; if the Teutonic word is allied to these, the d of the Gothic and Saxon words is derived from Aryan t, i.e. Gothic garda is based on Aryan ghortó- (not ghórto- from χόρτο-). On the other hand, Garten may be connected with Slavonic and Lithuanian words, which, however, assume that Gothic and Saxon d originated in Aryan dh; OSluv. gradŭ, masculine, ‘enclosure, citadel, town’ (as an enclosed place; Lithuanian gàrdas, ‘fold’). It is possible that in the Teutonic class two words, different in sound but allied in meaning, have been combined; but the Slavonic words were more probably borrowed from Teutonic. Compare Zaun.
Gas, neuter, ‘gas,’ a word coined by the Dutch chemist, Von Helmont, of Brussels (died 1644 A.D.); compare Dutch gas.
Gasse, feminine, ‘lane, road, row,’ from Middle High German gaȥȥe, Old High German gaȥȥa, feminine, properly (as even yet in Upper German) ‘street’; corresponding to Gothic gatwô, feminine, ‘lane, street,’ Old Icelandic gata (accusative gǫtu), ‘way, street, path.’ From the Scandinavian word English gate, ‘way,’ is derived. Properly speaking, the word is unknown to the Low German languages. Whether Gasse is allied to Anglo-Saxon geat, English (Scotch), gate, gait (see Gatter), Old Saxon and Dutch gat, neuter, ‘hole, cavern,’ Old Icelandic gat, neuter, ‘hole,’ and is derived from a primary meaning, ‘inlet, opening’ — Gasse, literally ‘furnished with an entrance, a gate,’ on account of the suffix -wân? — cannot be definitely decided; in any case, it is impossible to connect Gasse with gehen, since ​the latter is based upon a root i (Latin ire, Greek ἰέναι).
Gast, masculine, ‘guest, visitor; wight; sailor,’ from Middle High German and Old High German gast (plural gęste, gęsti), masculine, ‘stranger, guest’; common, in the same sense, to Teutonic; compare Gothic gasts (plural gasteis), masculine (compare gastigôds, ‘hospitable’), Old Icelandic gestr, ‘guest (uninvited),’ Anglo-Saxon gyst, giest, masculine, English guest, Dutch and Old Saxon gast. Teutonic gastiz, masculine, ‘stranger, unbidden or chance guest from some foreign part,’ from pre-Teutonic ghostis, which left derivatives in Latin and Slavonic; Latin hostis, ‘enemy,’ properly ‘foreigner, stranger,’ Old Slovenian qostĭ, masculine, ‘guest'; with Latin hostis, ‘foreigner,’ hospes (properly *hosti-potis, ‘host’?), might also be connected. It is more than questionable whether West Aryan ghosti-s, ‘stranger,’ is properly ‘eater, devourer,’ and belongs to the Sanscrit root ghas, ‘to eat.’ It is worthy of notice in how many ways Teutons and Romans have transformed the idea underlying the old inherited word for ‘stranger'; the Roman regards him as an enemy, among the Teutons he enjoys the greatest privileges — a fine confirmation of Tacitus' account in the Germania. This evolution of meaning would be still more remarkable if the view were correct that Latin hostis, ‘stranger,’ is related to Latin hostia, ‘victim’ (stranger = ‘one to be sacrificed’?); this collocation is alluring, but very uncertain.
gäten, jäten, verb, ‘to weed,’ from the equivalent Middle High German jëten, gëten, Old High German jëtan, gëtan; akin to Old High German jetto, masculine, ‘weed, darnel.’ Perhaps Greek ζητέω, ‘I seek,’ is allied, if the Aryan root is yē̆t.
gätlich, adjective, ‘suitable, convenient,’ an essentially Middle German and Low German word; derived from a parallel Gothic form *gada-, to which Old High German gi-gát, adjective, ‘suitable, agreeing with,’ also points; compare Gatte, gut; so too Old Slovenian godŭ, ‘favourable time,’ Lithuanian gadas, ‘stipulation,’ and Dutch gadelijk, ‘reconcilable.’
Gatte, masculine, ‘spouse, consort, husband,’ from Middle High German gate (also gegate), masculine, ‘equal associate, one's equals, husband'; compare Dutch gade, ‘husband.’ The last meaning is rare in the Middle High German period, and first prevailed over the others in the last century; it is a specialisation of the idea ‘belonging to one another'; compare Old Saxon gigado, ‘one's equals,’ Anglo-Saxon gegada, ‘companion’; also Gothic gadiliggs, ‘relative,’ Anglo-Saxon gœdeling, ‘member of the same tribe,’ Old High German gatuling, ‘cousin,’ Old Saxon gaduling, ‘countryman, member of the same tribe.’ Modern High German gatten (sich gatten), verb, is from Middle High German gaten, ‘to come together, agree'; Middle High German (essentially Middle German) gater, ‘together,’ Dutch te gader, Anglo-Saxon geador and tôgœdere. English together; Anglo-Saxon gadrian, English to gather (Dutch vergaderen, ‘to assemble’); Old High German gęti-lôs, Middle High German gęte-lôs, adjective, ‘wanton, dissolute,’ literally ‘free from the restraining bond.’ The ideas of ‘belonging to one another' and of ‘suiting’ are seen in all the cognates of gut.
Gatter, neuter, ‘railing, lattice, rudder,’ from Middle High German gater, masculine, neuter, ‘railing, lattice’ (as a gate or fence), Old High German gataro, masculine, ‘railing.’ If the latter represents Teutonic ga-doro, the word would be a compound of ga (see ge) and Thor (Gothic datir). On the other hand, it is possibly allied to Anglo-Saxon geat, English gate.
Gau, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German göu, gou, neuter, Old High German gęwi, gouwi, neuter, ‘district.’ According to Gothic gawi (gaujis), neuter, ‘scenery, country,’ we might have expected Old High German gęwi (gouwes), Middle High German göu (gouwes), since j after au becomes w without producing modification (compare Frau). Even now Gäu, neuter, is found in Bavarian, Suabian, and Swiss, but in the sense of ‘country’ opposed to town. The word is unknown to Scandinavian, and also to Saxon and English, in which Gau, as the second part of a compound name applied to a district, is met with only in the very earliest period; compare e.g. Anglo-Saxon œ́lge, ‘district of eels,’ Old Low German Pathergô, ‘Pader district’ (around Paderborn). The Modern High German word first obtained currency again in the last century as a result of the study of Old German (see Hort). No tenable root has yet been found.
Gauch, masculine, ‘simpleton, gawk, crow, owl, cuckoo’ (as stupid birds), from Middle High German gouch, masculine, ‘dolt, fool, simpleton,’ properly ‘cuckoo,’ Old High German gouh, ‘cuckoo'; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon geác, Old Icelandic gaukr (whence Scotch gowk), ‘cuckoo.’ Is k a suffix as in Anglo-Saxon hafoc, ‘hawk,’ and Gothic ahaks, ‘pigeon’? Old High German gouh, Gothic *gauks, cannot, however, be allied to Latin cuculus, Sanscrit kôkila-s, ‘cuckoo,’ since Teutonic g initially cannot represent Latin and Sanscrit k. Further Gauch is the Old Teutonic word for the later term Kuckuck.
Gaudieb, masculine, formed from the equivalent Low German gaudeef, Dutch gaauwdicf, properly ‘sharp, cunning thief’ (from gaauw, ‘quick, cunning,’ see jähe), then generally ‘sharper.’
​ Gaukler, masculine, ‘buffoon, juggler, impostor,’ from Middle High German goukelœre, Old High German goukalâri, gouggalâri (k from gg, see Hake), ‘magician, conjuror’; from Middle High German goukeln, Old High German goukolôn, gouggolôn, ‘to deal in magic, play the fool.’ Apparently allied to Old High German gougarôn, Middle High German gougern, ‘to roam about,’ also to Middle High German gogeln, ‘to act without restraint, flutter about,’ gogel, adjective, ‘unrestrained, exuberant,’ giege, masculine, ‘fool, dupe’; Dutch goochelaar, ‘buffoon.’ The cognates point to a Teutonic root gug, geug, gaug, ‘to move here and there in a curious fashion like a clown or conjuror’?. Considering the numerous correspondences, it cannot be maintained that Gaukler was derived from Latin joculari, or from Greek καυκίον, ‘small dish or bowl’; both these explanations are opposed by the phonetic relations of the words; in the case of the Greek term there is the further difficulty that we do not know how it was borrowed, and also the fact that no verb ‘to juggle’ occurs in Greek.
Gaul, masculine, ‘steed, nag,’ from Middle High German gûl, masculine, ‘boar, male animal (generally)’; only at a late period and rarely ‘nag,’ which meaning becomes prominent in the 15th century; for a ‘sorry jade’ runzît is used in Middle High German; Dutch guil, feminine, ‘a mare that does not yet bear.’ The word is not known to the other dialects; its origin is obscure.
Gaumen, masculine, ‘palate, taste,’ from Middle High German goume, guome, Old High German goumo (giumo?), guomo, masculine, ‘palate, throat, jaw’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gôma, masculine, ‘palate,’ English gums (probably from Anglo-Saxon *gumma, since, moreover, there are numerous forms in earlier Modern High German which point to an Old High German *gummo, ‘palate’); Old Icelandic gómr, masculine, ‘palate’; Gothic *gaumô, *gômô, neuter, are wanting. Allied to Lithuanian gomyris, ‘palate.’ The relation of the vowels of the stem (Old High German and Middle High German ou and uo, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian ô) is obscure; see Bude. Some etymologists connect the word with a Teutonic root gau (Greek χαν (in χαῦνος, ‘gasping, loose,’ χάος, ‘chasm,’ for χάϝος).
Gauner, earlier Jauner, masculine, ‘sharper, knave,’ does not occur till the beginning of the last century; in the 15th and 16th centuries the professional swindlers at cards were called Joner, from the slang jonen, ‘to play,’ the ultimate source of which is said to be Hebrew jânâ, ‘to cheat.’
ge-, a proclitic prefix, from Middle High German ge-, Old High German gi, ga- (an accented prefix ga- in noun compounds is very rare in Old High German and Middle High German); the primary idea is ‘collectivity, completeness’; compare Gothic ga-, Anglo-Saxon ge- (in English i only in handiwork, handicraft, Anglo-Saxon hondgeweorc, hondgecrœft; compare also English enough, from Anglo-Saxon genôh, under genug). The prefix is probably allied to Latin con-; cum; compare gehen, glauben, gleich, Glied, &c.
gebären, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German gëbern, Old High German gibëran, verb, ‘to give birth to’; corresponding to Gothic gubaíran (also baíran), ‘to give birth to, produce,’ Anglo-Saxon gebëran, bëran, strong verb, ‘to give birth to,’ English to bear; in Scandinavian the compounds with ga- are wanting, the simple verb bera, ‘to give birth to’ being used. See Bahre; where proofs are given of the antiquity of the verbal stem ber, pre-Teutonic bher, within the Aryan group; in Indian the root bhṛ, bhar, may mean ‘to bear offspring’ as well as ‘to bear’ generally; compare Latin fertilis, from Latin fero; in Old Irish the substantives combairt and brith, corresponding to Geburt, ‘birth,’ manifest the same specialisation. See Geburt.
Gebärde, Geberde, feminine, ‘bearing, gesture,’ from Middle High German gebœrde, feminine, ‘conduct, appearance, manner,’ Old High German gibârida, feminine, from Middle High German gebâren, Old High German gibârên, -ôn; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gebœ̂ran, ‘to conduct oneself,’ gebœ̂re, gebœ̂rn, ‘conduct’; from the root ber in Bahre, gebären.
geben, verb, ‘to give, present, render, yield,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gëben, Old High German gëban; common to Teutonic in the same sense; compare Gothic giban, Anglo-Saxon gifan, English to give, Dutch geren, Old Icelandic gefa. Compare Gabe, Gift. Akin to Old Irish gabim, ‘I take,’ Lithuanian gabénti, ‘to bring, convey to,’ gobinti, ‘to cause to bring’?.
Gebet, neuter, ‘prayer,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gebët, Old High German gibët, neuter (Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon gebëd, neuter, ‘prayer’); allied to beten, bitten.
Gebiet, neuter, ‘dominion, jurisdiction, territory, sphere,’ from Middle High German gebiet, neuter, ‘territory, jurisdiction, order’; allied to gebieten, bieten.
Gebirge, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German gebirge, Old High German gibirgi, neuter, ‘range (of mountains),’ a specifically High German collective form allied to Berg.
Gebresten, neuter, ‘defect, infirmity, grief,’ an infinitive used as a noun; from Middle High German ge-brësten. See bersten.
Gebühr, Gebür, feminine, ‘duty, propriety, dues, fees,’ allied to gebühren, Middle High German ​gebürn, Old High German giburien, weak verb, ‘to occur, happen, fall to one's lot, devolve on by law, be due’; corresponding to Old Saxon giburian, Anglo-Saxon gebyrian, Old Icelandic byrja, ‘to be suitable, becoming, fit’; Gothic *gabaúrjan, weak verb, may be inferred from gabaurjaba, adverb, ‘willingly’ (literally ‘in a fitting manner’?), and gabaurjôþus, masculine, ‘pleasure.’ The whole class is probably connected with the root ber ‘to carry’; compare Low German bühren, ‘to raise aloft,’ see empor; hence Old High German buri dik, ‘go (thou)’, literally ‘raise thyself,’ giburita, ‘pervenit’; burien, büren, also ‘to come to pass.’ See Bahre, Börde.
Geburt, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German geburt, Old High German giburt, feminine, ‘birth.’ Compare Gothic gabaurpþs, feminine, ‘birth,’ also ‘lineage, native town,’ Old Saxon giburd, feminine, Anglo-Saxon gebyrd, feminine, ‘birth, rank, dignity,’ English birth, Old Icelandic burþr, masculine, ‘birth, embryo’; in form it points to Aryan and Sanscrit bhṛtí-s, and both in form and meaning it corresponds to Old Irish brith, ‘birth’; Sanscrit bhṛtí-s, feminine, ‘bearing, nursing, maintenance’ With the simple Teutonic beran, ‘to give birth to,’ is connected an Old Teutonic neuter substantive barna-, ‘child’ (literally ‘that which is born’), formed from the old no-partic. Compare Old Icelandic barn, Anglo-Saxon bearn, Old Saxon, Old High German, and Middle High German barn, ‘child, son.’
Geck, masculine, ‘fool, fop, buffoon,’ originally Middle German (and Low German), in which gëc, gëcke, masculine, ‘silly fellow, fool, droll fellow,’ occurs even in the Middle High German period; not allied to Middle High German giege, ‘fool,’ mentioned under gaufeln. Compare Dutch gek, masculine, Danish gjœk, ‘fool,’ Icelandic gikkr, ‘crafty, coarse person.’
Gedächtnis, neuter, ‘memory, recollection, memorial,’ allied to gedenken, denken.—
Gedanke, masculine, ‘thought, idea,’ from Middle High German gedanc(k), Old High German gedank, masculine, Old Saxon githanko, masculine, ‘thought,’ Anglo-Saxon geþonc; allied to denken.
gedeihen, verb, ‘to thrive, prosper,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gedîhen, Old High German gidîhan, strong verb; Gothic gaþeilan, Anglo-Saxon geþeón (contracted from geþîhan), ‘to thrive’; the old Anglo-Saxon form points to the fact that the verbal stem was originally nasalised; ñ before h is everywhere suppressed in Teutonic, thus þîhan for þiñhan. The corresponding factitive *þhangjan remained in Old Saxon, where thengian means ‘to complete’; on the suppression of the nasal the e gradation passed into the î gradation in Gothic an High German. The simple form þeihan, ‘to thrive,’ is still known in Gothic. On account of its meaning, gedeihen (root þenh, pre-Teutonic tenk, tek, in Lithuanian tenkù, -tèkti, ‘I have enough,’ as well as in Irish tocad, Welsh tynged, ‘fortune,’ from the primary form tongeto-) cannot be be connected with the root τεκ in τέκνον (see Degen).—
gediegen, adjective, ‘solid, pure, concise, pithy,’ from Middle High German gedigen, adjective, ‘adult, firm, hard, clear, pure,’ Old High German gidigan, adjective, ‘aged, advanced in years, earnest, pure, chaste’; properly a participle of gidihan (g by a grammatical change is the necessary form of h in the participle); Anglo-Saxon preserves the older participial form of the e-gradation, geþungen, ‘complete,’ so too Old Saxon thungan.
Geduld, feminine, ‘patience, forbearance,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gedult, Old High German gedult, feminine; allied to dulden.
gedunsen, adjective, ‘bloated, puffed up,’ participle of a lost strong verb which is retained in Modern High German dialects (Hessian dinsen, ‘to draw ‘); compare Middle High German dinsen, ‘to draw, tear, extend,’ Old High German dinsan; also Gothic *þinsan, atþinsan, ‘to draw.’ The Teutonic root þens, pre-Teutonic tens, corresponds to the Sanscrit root tans, ‘to draw,’ Lithuanian tęsti, ‘to draw, stretch.’ The root tens seems an extension of the root ten appearing in dehnen.
Gefahr, feminine, ‘danger, risk, jeopardy,’ Modern High German only, for Middle High German vâre, Old High German fâra, feminine, ‘ambush, deceit, hazard, danger’; Anglo-Saxon fœ̂r, feminine, ‘ambush, unforeseen danger, fright,’ English fear, Old Saxon fâr, ‘ambush’; Gothic *fêra, ‘ambush,’ follows from férja, masculine, ‘waylayer.’ Scandinavian fâr, neuter, has a somewhat different meaning, ‘misfortune, distemper.’ Allied to the root fē̆́r, Aryan pē̆́r, which in Latin periculum, Greek πεῖρα, ‘trial, cunning, deception,’ furnishes cognate meanings.
Gefährte, m, ‘companion, partner, mate,’ from Middle High German gevęrte, Old High German gifęrto (*gafartjo), ‘escort,’ literally ‘fellow-traveller'; allied to Fahrt.
gefallen, verb, ‘to suit, please,’ from Middle High German gevallen, Old High German gifallan, strong verb ‘to happen, fall to one's lot, please,’ in Middle High German always with the complement ‘wohl’ (well) or ‘übel’ (ill); probably an expression derived from the Old Teutonic warlike custom of dividing booty (compare Hund) by means of dice; es gefällt mir wohl, ‘I am well pleased with it,’ literally das Los fällt gut für mich, ‘that was a lucky throw for me’ (a similar history is also connected with Modern High German schenken, which furnishes evidence respecting the Teutonic drinking customs). Note too that in Modern High German terms relating to card-playing have been similarly used, ​Compare Sau (literally ‘ace (of cards)’ then generally ‘good fortune’) and Hund.
Gefängnis, neuter, ‘prison,’ from Middle High German gevencnisse, feminine, neuter, ‘imprisonment’; allied to fangen.
Gefäß, neuter, ‘vessel, receptacle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gevœȥe, neuter (Old High German givâȥȥi, masculine, ‘transport’). Gothic *gafêti, neuter, is wanting; it would probably be connected with Gothic fêtjan, ‘to adorn’ (Anglo-Saxon fœted, participle, ‘adorned’), and also more remotely with Faß.
Gefieder, neuter, ‘feathers, plumage, fowls,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gevidere, Old High German gefidari, neuter; collective of Feder.
Gefilde, neuter, ‘fields, plain,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gevilde, Old High German gefildi, neuter; collective of Feld.
geflissen, participle of a lost verb fleißen, ‘assiduous, busy,’ See Fleiß.
gegen, preposition, ‘against, opposite to, in presence of, in comparison with,’ from Middle High German gęgen, Old High German gęgin, gagan, ‘against’ (in Old High German and Middle High German almost always with a dative); allied to the Middle High German adverb gęgene, Old High German gęgini, gagani, ‘towards’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon geán, ongeán, ‘against,’ English again; Old Saxon gęgin and Old Icelandic gagn, ‘against,’ appear only in compounds; in Gothic a corresponding word is wanting. Of obscure origin. —
Gegend, ‘region, neighbourhood,’ from the equivalent Middle High German (post-classical) gęgenôte, gęgende, feminine, which, with the variant gęgene, feminine, are imitations of French contrée (Italian contrada), ‘country,’ allied to Latin contra. —
Gegenwart, ‘presence, present time,’ from Middle High German gęgenwart, Old High German gęginmwarti, feminine, abstract of Old High German gaganwart, ‘present,’ whence Middle High German gęgenwertec, MulHG. gegenwärtig, ‘present.’ See the adjective suffix -wärts.
gehaben, verb in sich gehaben, ‘to fare, be (in health), behave,’ from Middle High German sich gehaben, Old German sih gihabên, ‘to hold, be (in health)’; allied to haben.
Gehege, neuter, ‘hedge, enclosure, precinct,’ from Middle High German gehege, neuter, ‘enclosure’; allied to Hag, hegen.
geheim, adjective, ‘private, secret, hidden, mysterious,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German geheim, which, with heimlich, means literally ‘belonging to the house.’
gehen, verb, ‘to go, walk, go on well, succeed,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gên, gân (some of the inflected forms supplied by the stem gang; see Gang); compare Anglo-Saxon gân (stem gâ-, from gai), English to go, Old Swedish and Old Danish ga, ‘to go.’ The assumed root ghai-, meaning ‘to go,’ cannot be positively authenticated beyond the Teutonic group (yet compare Lettic gâju, ‘I went’?). The remarkable facts that this Teutonic gai, ‘to go,’ has no primitively noun derivatives in Teutonic, that it has supplanted the root i, which is widely diffused in Aryan, but almost obsolete in Teutonic (retained, however, in the Gothic aorist iddja, Anglo-Saxon eóde), and that like the latter it is conjugated like verbs in mi — all these lead to the supposition that the assumed Gothic *guim, *gais, *gaiþ are contracted from the verbal particle ga (see ge-) and the old inherited îmi, îsi, îti (compare Greek εἶμι, Sanscrit êmi, êši, êti), ‘to go.’ From this explanation it follows that gehen is fundamentally identical with Latin îre, Greek ἰέναι, Sanscrit root i, Lithuanian eíti. Old Slovenian iti, ‘to go’ (see eilen). For a similar blending of a verbal particle and an old verb compare folgen, fressen.
geheuer, adjective, ‘secure against anything uncanny,’ from Middle High German gehiure, ‘gentle, graceful, free from anything uncanny’; compare Old High German and Old Saxon unhiuri, ‘dreadful, terrible,’ Anglo-Saxon hŷre (heóre), ‘friendly, mild,’ Old Icelandic hýrr, ‘mild.’ Indubitable cognates in the non-Teutonic languages are wanting; perhaps Sanscrit çakrá, ‘strong’ (of deities) is allied, so that Old High German -hiuri would represent hegwro- (Aryan keqró-).
Gehren, masculine (dialectic), ‘lap,’ from Middle High German gêre, yêro, masculine, ‘wedge-shaped piece of stuff or land, lap’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gâra, ‘piece of stuff,’ English gore, Old Icelandic geire, in the same sense; a derivative of Ger. For the evolution of meaning compare Franse, Schoß. — From the Old German word the Romance cognates, French giron and Italian gherone, ‘lap, train (of a dress),’ are derived.
Geier, masculine, ‘vulture, carrion kite,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gîr, masculine, akin to Low German gier. On account of the early appearance of the German word we cannot assume that it was borrowed from the Romance cognates, Italian girfalco, French gerfaut (whence Middle High German gir-valke is derived), or from Latin Greek gyrare, ‘to wheel round.’ The connection between Old High German gîr with Old High German gī̆ri, Middle High German gîre (geier still occurs in Modern High German dialects), ‘greedy, covetous,’ and the Teutonic root gī̆r, ‘to covet,’ presents no difficulty. Geier is literally ‘the greedy bird.’ See gern, Gier.
Geifer, masculine, ‘slaver, drivel, wrath,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German geifer, masculine (15th century), whence also geifern, Modern High German geifern. Origin obscure.
​ Geige, feminine, ‘fiddle, violin,’ from the equivalent early Middle High German gîge, feminine; corresponding to Middle Dutch ghighe, Old Icelandic gígja; in Old High German fidula, English fiddle; see Fiedel. The Teutonic word, like Harfe, found its way into Romance; compare Italian giga, French gigue (whence further English jig). There is no suspicion that Middle High German gîge was borrowed; it is, however, scarcely allied primitively (pre-Teutonic ghîkă) to Old Slovenian žica, ‘thread’ (akin to Lithuanian gijá, ‘thread’?).
geil, adjective, ‘rank, wanton, obscene, lewd,’ from Middle High German and Old High German geil, ‘of savage strength, wanton, exuberant, merry, joyous’; for the change of meaning on the transition from Middle High German to Modern High German compare Schimpf. The primary meaning. ‘unrestrained, joyous,’ follows from Gothic gailjan, ‘to rejoice’; compare Old Saxon gêl, Dutch geil, Anglo-Saxon gâl. To the Teutonic cognates Lithuanian gailùs, ‘passionate, furious, sharp, painful, sympathetic,’ and gailěti-s, ‘to injure’; Old Slovenian zělu (from gailo), ‘violent,’ adverb zėlo, ‘very’ In the compound Biebergeil appears the Middle High German noun geil, geile, ‘testicle.’
Geisel (1.), masculine and feminine, ‘hostage,’ from Middle High German gisel, Old High German gisal, masculine, neuter, ‘prisoner of war, person held in security’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gîsel, Old Icelandic gîsl, masculine. To connect it with Geisel (2.), feminine, as if ‘hostage’ were literally ‘one who is scourged,’ is impossible. It is, probably, most closely allied to the equivalent Old Irish giall (for *gísal).
Geisel (2.) feminine, ‘scourge, whip,’ from the equivalent Middle High German geisel), Old High German geisala, geisla, feminine; akin to Old Icelandic geisl, geisle, masculine, ‘pole used by persons walking in snow-shoes.’ The stem gais- is connected with the Old Teutonic term gaiza-, ‘spear’ (see Ger). Hence ‘pole, staff,’ must be accepted as the primary meaning; the second component is Gothic walus, ‘staff,’ so that Old High German geis-ala stands for *geis-wala, just as Old High German wurzala for Anglo-Saxon wyrt-walu (see under Wurzel).
Geist, masculine, ‘spirit, genius, spectre,’ from Middle High German and Old High German geist, masculine, ‘spirit (in contrast to body), supernatural being’; corresponding to Old Saxon gêst, Dutch geist, Anglo-Saxon gâst (gœ̂st), English ghost; common to Teutonic in the same sense, but in Gothic ahma (see achten). The primary meaning of the word (‘agitation’?) is not quite certain; yet Icelandic geisa, ‘to rage’ (of fire, passion), and Gothic us-gaisjan, ‘to enrage,’ seem to be allied. Respecting the dental suffix of the Teutonic Geist (pre-Teutonic ghaisdos), note the Sanscrit root hîḍ (from hizd), ‘to get angry,’ hêḍas, neuter, ‘anger,’ to which English aghast also corresponds.
Geiß, feminine, ‘goat, roe,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German geiȥ, f,; corresponding to Gothic gaits, Old Icelandic geit, Anglo-Saxon gât, English goat, Dutch geit; also a diminutive Gothic gaitein, Anglo-Saxon gœ̂ten, Old High German geizzîn, neuter, ‘kid’ (see Schwein). Primit. allied to Latin haedus from older ghaido-s (see Ritze and Ziege). In common with Slavonic, Old Teutonic has a different word for Ziege; compare Middle Dutch hoekijn, Anglo-Saxon hêcen, ‘kid,’ akin to Old Slovenian koza, ‘goat.’
Geiz, masculine, ‘avarice,’ allied to geizen, Middle High German gîtsen (gîzen), beside which Middle High German gîten, ‘to be greedy, covetous, or avaricious’ occurs; compare Anglo-Saxon gîtsian, ‘to be covetous.’ The term for Geiz in Middle High German and Old High German was gît, ‘greediness, covetousness, avarice,’ for geizig, Middle High German gîtec, Old High German gîtag, ‘greedy, covetous, avaricious’; respecting the derivation of Geiz from geizen, see Ärger, handeln. Akin to Gothic gaidw, neuter, ‘want.’ With the Teutonic root gaid, gī̆d (Aryan ghaidh), are connected Lithuanian geidżiù (geísti), ‘to desire,’ Old Slovenian židą, žĭdati, ‘to expect.’
Gekröse, neuter, ‘giblets; frill, ruffle,’ from Middle High German gekrœse, neuter, ‘the small intestine,’ also the variant krœse, Old High German *chrôsi; akin to Dutch kroes, kroost, ‘giblets of ducks and geese.’ All the cognates are probably connected with kraus.
Gelage, neuter, ‘feast, banquet, drinking bout,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, allied to legen. Scarcely derived from the ancient Gelage (banquets); but just as Gothic gabaur is literally ‘that which is laid together,’ and then ‘picnic, feasting’ (from baíran, ‘to carry,’ see Bahre), so Gelage is literally ‘that which is laid together,’ and then ‘feasting’; compare zechen.
Geländer, neuter ‘railing, banister, from the equivalent late Middle High German gelender (15th century), allied to Middle High German lander, ‘stake, fence,’ which may be regarded as a nasalised variant of Latte (Teutonic laþ-).
Gelaß, masculine and neuter, ‘relics, heritage,’ from Middle High German gelœȥe, neuter, ‘settlement, mode of settlement,’ allied to gelâȥen, ‘to settle.’
gelb, adjective, ‘yellow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gël, Old High German gëlo (genitive gëlwes); corresponding to Old Saxon gëlo, Dutch geel, Anglo-Saxon geolo, English yellow (Old Icelandic gulr). The common West Teutonic gelwa-, from pre-Teutonic ghelwo-, is primitively allied to Latin helvus, ‘greyish yellow’; the Aryan root ghel appears also in ​Greek χλω-ρός, χλᾶ-ρός, ‘green, yellow,’ χλόη, ‘green objects,’ Old Slovenian zelenŭ, ‘yellow, green,’ Lithuanian żálias, ‘green’ (żėlti, ‘to grow green’), Sanscrit hari, ‘yellowish.’ Akin also to Galle and Gold.
Geld, neuter, ‘money, coin, cash,’ from Middle High German and Old High German gëlt (t; the d first occurs in Modern High German), neuter, masculine, ‘recompense, compensation, revenue, income, paying, payment, money,’ Dutch geld, ‘money.’ ‘Means for paying, coin,’ is the latest sense of the words quoted (compare Gothic gild, ‘tax, interest’); it is wanting in the corresponding words of the other dialects; in Gothic the term is faihu (see Vieh), and skatts (see Schatz), Anglo-Saxon feoh, English money. On the other hand, Anglo-Saxon gild signifies ‘recompense, compensation, sacrifice.’ See gelten.
gelegen, adjective, ‘situated, opportune, seasonable,’ and adverb; from Middle High German gelëgen, adjective, ‘neighbouring, at hand, suitable,’ Old High German gilëgan, ‘nearest, related’; participle of giligan, Middle High German geligen. —
Gelegenheit, feminine, ‘opportunity, occasion,’ from Middle High German gelëgenheit, ‘situation of an affair, condition or nature of things.’ —
gelegentlich, adjective, ‘occasional, incidental’ (and adverb), from Middle High German gelëgenlich, with an inserted t.
Gelenk, neuter, ‘joint, articulation, wrist, link,’ from Middle High German gelęnke, neuter, ‘waist, bend, bow,’ akin to Modern High German gelenk, gelenkig, adjective formed from Middle High German gelęnke, ‘pliant, skilful’ (see lenken). While the Middle High German gelenke, as a collective of Middle High German lanke, signifies the ‘pliable narrow part of the body between the hips and breast,’ and hence, as it were, the joint of the entire body, the word in Modern High German is applied to each limb; akin to Old High German lancha, hlancha, ‘hip, loins’ (whence also the Romance cognates — Italian fianco, from which Modern High German Flanke is borrowed), likewise Old Icelandic hlekkr, ‘link of a chain.’
Gelichter, neuter, ‘likeness, cast, stamp,’ literally ‘class of people of like manners’; in this sense glihter and its derivatives occur even in late Middle High German (Middle German); derived from Middle High German gelich, gleich (see the latter). Yet the Upper German form glifter points to a blending with another word, Gothic *gahliftrja, ‘thief's accomplice’ (akin to Gothic hlifan, ‘to steal,’ primitively allied to Greek κλέπτω). For High German ft, equivalent to Low German ht, see sacht, ruchbar, Gerücht.
gelingen, verb, ‘to prove succeesful, from Middle High German gelingen, Old High German gilingan, strong verb, ‘to be successful, proper’; Middle High German also lingen, ‘to proper, advance, get on.’ Allied to Anglo-Saxon lungre, ‘quickly,’ from pre-Teutonic lughró-, to which the equivalent Greek ἐλαφρός also points; the Aryan root lengh (lngh) appears also in Sanscrit lañgh, ram̃h, to spring, get on.’ See leicht.
gellen, verb, ‘to yell,’ from Middle High German gëllen, Old High German gëllan, strong verb, ‘to sound loud, cry’; corresponding to Dutch gillen, Anglo-Saxon gillan, Old Icelandic gjalla, ‘to resound’; allied to the Teutonic root gel, gal, ‘to resound.’ Compare Nachtigall.
geloben, verb ‘to promise, vow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German geloben, Old High German gilobôn (akin to loben); literally ‘to assent, applaud.’
gelt (1.), particle. See gelten.
gelt (2.), adjective, ‘giving no milk, barren,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German galt; corresponding to Old Icelandic geldr, Old Swedish galder, which have the same sense. They are connected perhaps with Old High German galza, Middle High German galze, Old Icelandic gǫltr, ‘gelded pig’ (English dialectic, gilt, ilt). The stem on which it is based, gald, galt (from pre-Teutonic ghalt, ghaltn-), perhaps meant originally ‘to castrate’; compare English to geld, Old Icelandic gelda, ‘to geld’; akin to Gothic gilþa, ‘sickle’?.
Gelte, feminine, ‘pail, bucket, vessel,’ from Middle High German gęlte, Old High German gęllita, feminine, ‘vessel for liquids’; adopted in the Old High German period from Middle Latin galêta, with which are also connected the Romance cognates — French jale, ‘pail,’ Italian galea, galeotta, French galiasse, galion, applied to different kinds of ships. The ultimate source of the cognates is obscure.
gelten, verb, ‘to be worth, pass current, prove effectual,’ from Middle High German gëlten, Old High German gëltan, strong verb, ‘to repay, pay, cost, be worth, requite, compensate’; compare Gothic us-, fra-gildan, ‘to requite’ (akin to Gothic gild and gilstr, neuter, ‘tax’), Old Icelandic gjalda (Old Swedish, also gialla, from Teutonic gelþan), ‘to pay,’ Anglo-Saxon gildan, English to yield, Dutch gelden, ‘to be worth, cost,’ Old Saxon geldan. The common Teutonic stem gelþ, the þ of which is proved by Old Swedish from pre-Teutonic ghel-t, points to the fact that Old Slovenian žlědą, ‘I pay, atone for,’ was borrowed. The primary meaning of the Teutonic cognates is ‘to make good, pay over something’; it seems to be specially applied to religious sacrifices; compare Anglo-Saxon gild, Old Saxon gëld, ‘sacrifice’ (akin to Greek τέλθος, ‘duty’?). See Geld, Gilde. — The particle gelt, which first occurs in early Modern High German, is properly the subj. present of the verb gelten.
Gelze, feminine, ‘gelded sow,’ from the equivalent ​Middle High German gęlze (galze), Old High German gęlza (galza). See gelt.
Gemach, neuter, ‘chamber, apartment; comfort, rest,’ from Middle High German gemach, masculine, neuter, ‘rest, comfort, case, nursing, place where one is nursed, room,’ Old High German gimah(hh), ‘ease, advantage’; the Modern High German meaning is not found until the classical period of Middle High German; the Modern High German adjective gemach, ‘comfortable,’ preserves the earlier meaning, Middle High German gemach, Old High German gimah(hh), ‘comfortable, suitable’; properly, ‘suitable to one another’ (compare Old Icelandic makr, ‘suitable’; see machen). Akin to gemächlich, Middle High German gemechlîch, Old High German gimahlîhho, adverb.
Gemächt, neuter, ‘genitals; handiwork,’ from Middle High German gemaht (plural, gemęhte), Old High German gimaht, feminine, ‘testicles’; akin to Modern High German Macht (compare Dutch gemacht).
Gemahl, masculine and neuter, ‘consort, spouse,’ from Middle High German gemahele, masculine, ‘betrothed, husband,’ and gemahele, feminine (very rarely neuter, which is first found in Luther specially), ‘betrothed, wife’ (the feminine form Gemahlin is wanting in Middle High German); Old High German gimahalo, masculine, ‘betrothed, husband,’ gimahala (gimâla), ‘betrothed, wife.’ Simply a German form from a common Teutonic substantive maþla- (whence mahla-), ‘public assembly, negotiation’; compare Gothic maþl, ‘assembly, market’ (akin to maþljan, ‘to make a speech’), Old Icelandic, mál, ‘speech’ (mœ̂la, ‘to make a speech), Anglo-Saxon meðel, ‘assembly’ (maðolian, mœ̂lan, ‘to make a speech’), Old High German mahal, ‘assembly, contract, marriage contract.’ Hence the substantive upon which the word is based has assumed in German only, the special reference to the act of betrothal in the public assembly before the community.
gemäß, adverb, ‘conformably, proportionally, suitably,’ from Middle High German gemœȥe, Old High German gimâȥȥi, adjective, ‘adapted’; akin to messen.
gemein, adjective, ‘common, public; mean, vulgar,’ from Middle High German gemeine, Old High German gimeini, ‘belonging to one another, in common, universal, belonging to the great body’; an adjective common to Teutonic; compare Gothic gamains, ‘in common, joint, general, unholy,’ Anglo-Saxon gemœ̂ne, English mean, Dutch gemeen. The common Teutonic ga-maini-s is primitively allied to the equivalent Latin com-mûnis (for com-moini-s); compare Latin ûnus with Gothic ains, Aryan oino-s. Since ‘in common’ is the primary meaning of the class, Meineid (which see) cannot be very closely allied to its Old Teutonic cognates.
Gemse, feminine, ‘chamois,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gęmeȥe, gamȥ, Old High German *gamuȥ (gamȥ), masculine; although a corresponding word is wanting in the other Teutonic languages, there is no sufficient reason for regarding Old High German *gamiȥa, feminine, as borrowed (formed like Old High German hiruȥ, see Hirsch; Anglo-Saxon ganot, ‘waterfowl’; Middle High German krebeȥ, see Krebs). The Romance cognates (Italian camozza, French chamois) which are equivalent in sound tell rather in favour of their own foreign origin than that of the German word (in Latin the term was rupicapra). Perhaps Spanish and Portuguese gamo, ‘stag,’ is based upon a Gothic *gama, allied to Gemse (English game has probably no connection with the word?).
Gemüll, see malmen; Gemüse, see Mus; gemut and Gemüt, see Mut.
gen, preposition, ‘against, towards,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gên, a variant of gein, gęgen. See gegen.
genau, ‘accurate, precise, strict, parsimonious,’ from late Middle High German (Middle German) nouwe, ‘careful, exact,’ akin to nouwe, genouwe, adverb, ‘scarcely’; compare Dutch naauw, ‘narrow, exact, punctual.’ Probably these cognates, in their Gothic form *ga-nêws, are to be connected with Gothic nêhws, High German nahe. Others refer them to a root nau, ‘to narrow,’ in Not and its cognates.
genehm, see angenehm.
genesen, verb, ‘to get well, recover,’ from Middle High German genësen, Old High German ginësan, strong verb, ‘to be left alive, be healed, escape alive,’ also ‘to be delivered of a child’; corresponding to Gothic ganisan, ‘to recover health, be rescued, saved,’ Anglo-Saxon genësan, Old Saxon ginësan, ‘to be rescued, be left alive’; also Dutch genezen, ‘to heal, cure.’ The Teutonic root nes, with which nähren and its cognates are connected as factitives, corresponds to the Sanscrit root nas, ‘to approach in an affectionate manner, join,’ and especially to Greek νέομαι (root νεσ-), ‘to come back,’ and νόσ-τος, ‘return home.’ From Teutonic are derived Old Slovenian gonĭząti (goneznąti), ‘to be redeemed,’ and gonoziti, ‘to redeem,’ allied to gonoziteljĭ, ‘Saviour.’ See nähren.
Genick, masculine, ‘back of the neck, nape,’ from the equivalent Middle High German genic, genicke, neuter; akin to Nacken, Anglo-Saxon hnëcca.
genießen, verb, ‘to enjoy, partake of,’ from the equivalent Middle High German genieȥen, Old High German ginioȥan, strong verb, with the variants Middle High German nieȥen, Old High German nioȥan; corresponding to Gothic niutan, ‘to take part in something,’ ganiutan, ‘to catch’ (nuta, ‘captor, ​fisher’). Old Icelandic njóta, ‘to enjoy, derive joy from, have the use of,’ Anglo-Saxon neótan, ‘to take, use, enjoy,’ Dutch genieten, Old Saxon niotan, ‘to enjoy.’ The primary meaning of the Teutonic root nut, found in strong verbs, was ‘to get something for one's own use,’ then ‘to use or enjoy something, have the use of.’ See Nuß, Nießnutz. Akin to the primitively allied Lithuanian naudà, ‘use, produce,’ pa-nústu, -nūdau, -nūsti, ‘to long, yearn for.’ —
Genosse, masculine, ‘comrade, companion, mate,’ from the equivalent Middle High German genôȥ, Old High German ginôȥ, masculine; corresponding to Old Saxon genôt, Anglo-Saxon geneát, Dutch genoot; literally ‘one who partakes of something with another,’ compare Geselle and Gesinde. —
Genossame, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German genôȥ-same, feminine, ‘fellowship,’ Old High German ginôȥ-samî, abstract of Old High German ginoȥsam, Middle High German genôȥ-sam, ‘of equal birth or worth.’
genug, adjective, ‘enough, sufficient,’ from the corresponding Middle High German genuoc(g), Old High German ginuog; a common Teutonic adjective with the Modern High German meaning; compare Gothic ganôhs, Anglo-Saxon genôh, English enough, Dutch genoeg, Old Saxon ginôg; a derivative of an Old Teutonic preterite-present Gothic ganah, Old High German ginah, ‘it suffices’; compare Gothic ganaúha, ‘sufficiency,’ Old High German ginuht, Middle High German genuht, ‘sufficiency.’ On Middle High German genuhtsam, Old High German ginuhtsam, ‘abundant, sufficient,’ is based Modern High German genugsam. To the Teutonic root nō̆h (Aryan nū̆k) preserved in these words some refer the Sanscrit root naç, ‘to attain,’ and Latin nancisci.
Ger, masculine, ‘spear,’ formed from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gêr, masculine; corresponding to Old Saxon gêr, Anglo-Saxon gâr, Old Icelandic geirr. The r in the latter word must be based upon an s, otherwise the Scandinavian form would be *gárr. Gothic *gaiza may be inferred too from old proper names, such as Hariogaisus. The terms γαῖσος, γαῖσον, are also mentioned by Polybius, Diodorus, &c., as applied to the spear by the North European barbarians. The word is genuinely Teutonic (yet compare also Old Irish gai, from *gaiso, ‘spear’), and has the approximate meaning, as the allied Geisel shows, of ‘shaft, rod (as a missile),’ for which reason Greek χαῖος, ‘shepherd's staff,’ and Sanscrit hêšas, neuter, ‘missile,’ are perhaps cognate. The root is Sanscrit hi, ‘to urge on,’ with which Anglo-Saxon gâd and English goad (from Aryan *ghai-tã) are also connected. The Old Teutonic term was first used again in Modern High German as a borrowed word, though it continued to exist in the proper names Gerbert (Old High German Gêr-braht, literally ‘glittering with spears’), Gerhard (Old High German Gérhart, ‘spear-bold’), Gertrud (Old High German Gêrtrût). Compare Gehren and Geisel.
gerad (1.), adverb, ‘even’ (of numbers), from the equivalent Middle High German gerat, Old High German girad, ‘even’; properly ‘equal in reckoning’; akin to Gothic raþjô, ‘number,’ garaþjan, ‘to count.’
gerade (2.), adjective, ‘going in one direction, straight, upright, from Middle High German gerat, ‘alert, quick, skilful, recently grown up, straight and therefore long’; the primary meaning is ‘nimble, rapid’; compare Old High German rado (and rato, hrato), ‘quick,’ Anglo-Saxon rœðe (also hrœde), ‘quick,’ Gothic raþs, ‘easy.’ Perhaps primitively allied to Rad, Latin rota.
Gerät, neuter, ‘tools, furniture, utensils, from Middle High German gerœte, Old High German girâti, neuter, ‘equipment,’ literally ‘consultation, precaution’; collective of Rat.
geraum, geräumig, see Raum.
Geräusch, neuter, ‘entrails of slaughtered animals,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German ingeriusche; origin obscure.
gerben, verb, ‘to tan, curry, polish,’ from Middle High German gęrwen (garwen), weak verb, ‘to make ready, prepare. equip, dress, tan’; a derivative of gar (see gar); Old High German gariwen (garawen), from *garwjan, ‘to make ready,’ lëdergarawo, ‘tanner.’
gerecht, adjective, ‘righteous, just, fit,’ from Middle High German gerëht, ‘straight, right, dexterous, skilful, fit, upright, innocent, just,’ Old High German girëht (grëht), ‘rectus, directus’ (not yer ‘justus’); corresponding to garaihts, ‘upright’; in Anglo-Saxon rihtwîs (Old High German rëhtwis), ‘justus.’ English righteous. See recht.
Gerfalke, Gierfalke, masculine, ‘gerfalcon,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gir-, gërfalke; from Romance. See Geier.
Gericht, neuter, ‘judgment, tribunal, court, jurisdiction,’ in its double sense even in Middle High German gerihte, neuter, ‘tribunal, sentence, jurisdiction,’ and ‘prepared food’; Old High German girihti, neuter, only in the first sense; akin to recht.
gering, adjective, ‘petty, trifling,’ properly ‘insignificant, easy,’ from Middle High German geringe, ‘light and quick, nimble,’ ringe, ‘easy, light, convenient, insignificant, slight, small,’ Old High German ringi, giringi, ‘light’; a specifically German adjective, wanting in the other Teutonic dialects; origin obscure. The development of meaning from ‘light’ to ‘slight’ through the medium of ‘easy’ is similar to that of klein.
gern, adverb, ‘gladly, willingly, fain,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gërne, Old High German gërno, adverb, ​from the Middle High German and Old High German adjective gërn; to the latter correspond Gothic gairns in faihugairns, ‘avaricious’ (compare Gothic gairnjan, ‘to desire, long for, demand’), Old Icelandic gjarn, ‘eager,’ Anglo-Saxon georn, ‘zealous,’ Dutch gaarne, Old Saxon gern. Akin to Old High German and Middle High German gër (without the participle suffix n), ‘desiring, demanding,’ as well as to begehren, Gier. The Teutonic root ger (from Aryan gher, ‘to demand violently,’ was confused with a derivative form in r from a root gĭ (ghĭ), allied in meaning; see Gier, Geier. Whether the Sanscrit root har-y, ‘to be fond of,’ or Greek χαίρω, or Oscan heriest, ‘he will be willing,’ is connected with the Aryan root gher is uncertain.
Gerste, feminine, ‘barley,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gërste, Old High German gërsta, feminine; akin to Dutch gerst; a specifically German word, unknown to the other dialects; Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon grîst, English grist, are not connected with it, but with Old Teutonic grindan, ‘to grind’ (equivalent to Latin frendere, ‘to gnash’?). In the remaining Teutonic dialects the terms for Gerste are Gothic baris, Old Icelandic bygg (and barr), Anglo-Saxon bęre, English barley. Old High German gërsta, from pre-Teutonic ghérzdâ-, corresponds only to the equivalent Latin hordeum (from *horsdeum, primary form *ghṛzdéyo-); Greek κριθή, ‘barley,’ is scarcely a cognate. From an Aryan root ghrs, ‘to stiffen’ (Latin horrere for *horsere, Sanscrit hṛš, ‘to bristle up’), some have inferred Gerste to mean originally ‘the prickly plant’ (on account of the prickly ears).
Gerte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German gęrte, Old High German gartia, feminine, ‘rod, twig, staff’; a derivative of Old High German and Middle High German gart, ‘rod, staff, stick.’ To the latter correspond Gothic gazds (compare Hort, equivalent to Gothic huzds), ‘stick,’ and Old Icelandic gaddr (English goad and its equivalent Anglo-Saxon gâd are not allied; see Ger). Probably Teutonic gazda- (Old High German gęrta would be *gazdjô) is primitively allied to Latin hasta (from Aryan gazdhâ), ‘spear.’
Geruch, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German geruch, masculine, ‘scent, odour, fame’; akin to riechen.
Gerücht, neuter, ‘rumour, report, reputation,’ from Middle High German gerüofte (geruofte), neuter, ‘calling, cry’; cht instead of ft (see rufen) is due to Low German influence, as in sacht and berüchtigt.
geruhen, verb, ‘to deign, condescend, be pleased,’ corrupted by connection with Ruhe from the earlier Modern High German geruochen, Middle High German geruochen, Old High German geruochan, ‘to care for, take into consideration’ (Middle High German also ‘to approve, grant’). Corresponding to ASax. rôkian, Anglo-Saxon rêcan (and rĕccan, whence English to reck), Old Icelandic rœ́kja, ‘to take care of.’ The Teutonic root. rak, rôk, appears also in Old High German rahha, ‘account, speech;’ so too in rechnen. In the non-Teutonic languages no root rā̆g in a cognate sense has yet been found.
Gerüst, neuter, ‘scaffold,’ from Middle High German gerüste, neuter, ‘contrivance, preparation, erection, frame, scaffold,’ Old High German girusti; akin to rüsten, rusten, hrustjan.
gesamt, adjective, ‘joint, collective,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gesament, gesamnet, Old High German gisamanôt; participle of Old High German samanôn. See sammeln.
Geschäft, neuter, ‘business, affair, occupation,’ from Middle High German geschefte, gescheffede, neuter, ‘creature, work, figure, occupation, business, affair’; abstract of schaffen.
geschehen, verb, ‘to happen, occur, befall,’ from the equivalent Middle High German geschëhen, Old High German giscëhan; a specifically German word (Middle Dutch geschien, Dutch geschieden), as well as the corresponding factitive schicken. It is uncertain whether the word is connected with Gothic skêwjan, ‘to go,’ and the Teutonic root skeh (*kē̆hw, skē̆w), from skek, or Old Slovenian skokŭ, ‘leap,’ and Old Irish *scuchim, ‘I go or pass away.’ See Geschichte and schicken.’
gescheit, ‘sensible, judicious, discreet,’ corrupted into gescheut, from Middle High German geschîde, adjective, ‘sensible, sly’; akin to schîden, a variant of scheiden. See scheiden.
Geschichte, feminine, ‘occurrence, narration, tale, history,’ from Middle High German geschiht, Old High German gisciht, feminine, ‘event, occurrence, cause of an event, dispensation’ (Middle High German also ‘affair, manner, stratum'; see Schicht); abstract of geschehen. Similarly Modern High German Geschick, ‘fate, destiny, dexterity,’ is based upon Middle High German geschicke, neuter, ‘event, order, formation, figure,’ as the abstract of Modern High German schicken. —
geschickt, ‘apt, skilful, adroit,’ properly a participle, Middle High German geschicket, ‘arranged, prepared, ready, suitable,’ from Middle High German schicken, ‘to arrange, set in order.’
Geschirr, neuter, ‘gear, trappings, implements, ware,’ from Middle High German geschirre, Old High German giscirri, neuter, ‘dishes, vessel, instrument, utensils.’ The more general meaning, ‘instrument of every kind,’ is also seen, especially in anschirren (Modern High German simply), ‘to harness a horse.’ The origin of the stem, which does not appear elsewhere in Teutonic, is obscure.
geschlacht, adjective, ‘of good quality, soft, tender, shapely,’ from Middle High German geslaht, ​Old High German gislaht, ‘well brought up, noble, well behaved’; ungeschlacht, ‘uncouth, unwieldy, boorish,’ even in Middle High German ungeslaht, Old High German ungislaht, ‘ignoble, base.’ Allied to Modern High German Geschlecht, neuter, ‘species, race, extraction, family,’ from Middle High German geslehte, neuter, ‘race, tribe, family, quality,’ Old High German gislahti; compare Old High German slahta, feminine, ‘race, family,’ Middle High German slahta, ‘manner, relation’; akin also to Schlag (e.g. Menschenschlag, ‘race of men’), not found in Old High German and Middle High German. It is difficult to determine the relation of these cognates to schlagen; even in Old High German slahan itself means ‘to take after, resemble’ (e.g. nâh dên fordôrôn slahan, ‘to resemble one's ancestors’), for which in late Middle High German nâch-slahen occurs, Modern High German nachschlagen. Probably the strong verb in Old Teutonic once had the meaning ‘to beget,’ which cannot now be authenticated; of this verb Old High German gislaht, ‘of good quality,’ would be an old participle in to (see falt, traut, laut), with a development of meaning similar to that of König. Compare French gentil, equivalent to Latin gentilis.
Geschmeide, neuter, ‘ornaments, trinkets, jewels,’ from Middle High German gesmîde, neuter, ‘metal, metal utensils or weapons, ornaments,’ Old High German gismîdi, neuter, ‘metal,’ and the variant smîda, feminine; from the root smī̆, widely diffused in Teutonic, ‘to work in metal,’ with which Old High German smeidar, ‘artificer in metals,’ and the cognates discussed under Schmied, are connected. So too geschmeidig, ‘pliant, flexible, tractable, smooth,’ from Middle High German gesmîdec, ‘easy to work, plastic.’
Geschmeiß, neuter, ‘fly-blows, eggs (of insects), vermin,’ from Middle High German gesmeiȥe, neuter, ‘excrement’; akin to schmeißen.
Geschoß, neuter, ‘shot, missile, dart,’ even Middle High German geschoȥ, Old High German giscoȥ, neuter, akin to schießen. So too Geschütz, ‘artillery, ordnance,’ even in Middle High German geschütze, neuter, ‘arms, weapons for shooting,’ occurs as a collective of Geschoß.
geschweige, conjunction with a subj. to be supplied, ‘much less, to say nothing of, I am silent about it,’ &c. —
geschweigen, ‘to pass by in silence, omit mentioning,’ a factitive of schweigen, from Middle High German gesweigen, Old High German gisweigen, ‘to reduce to silence.’ See schweigen.
geschwind, adjective and adverb, ‘swift(ly), rapid(ly), quick(ly),’ from geswinde, adjective and adverb, ‘quick(ly), vehement(ly)'; in earlier Modern High German schwinde, Middle High German swinde (swint), ‘powerful, strong, quick.’ In Old High German the adjective is wanting (yet the proper names Amalswind and Adalswind are recorded). The primary meaning is ‘strong’; the development of meaning to ‘quick’ is similar to that of bald; Gothic swinþs, ‘strong, powerful, healthy,’ Old Icelandic svinnr, ‘intelligent,’ Anglo-Saxon swið, ‘strong, violent,’ show various aspects of the primary meaning. The origin of the cognates is obscure; its relation to gesund is dubious.
Geschwister, plural (properly neuter singular), from the equivalent Middle High German geswister (geswisterde), neuter plural, ‘brothers and sisters,’ Old High German giswistar, plural; akin to Schwester.
Geschwulst, feminine, ‘swelling, tumour,’ from the equivalent Middle High German geswër, Middle High German geswulst, akin to schwellen.
Geschwür, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German geswër, neuter ‘abscess,’ akin to schwären.
Geselle, masculine, ‘comrade, apprentice, journeyman,’ from Middle High German gesęlle, Old High German gisęllo, literally ‘fellow-occupant or lodger,’ then generally ‘companion, friend’ (in late Middle High German ‘journeyman’ also); akin to Saal. Hence the derivatives, Middle High German gesęllec, ‘associate, combined,’ Modern High German gesellig; Middle High German gesęllecheit, ‘relation as a comrade’; Middle High German gesęllen, ‘to unite, combine,’ Modern High German Gesellen, ‘to associate.’ For the meaning of ge- in Geselle, compare Gesinde.
Gesetz, neuter, ‘law, decree, statute,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gesętze, of which the variant gesętzede occurs in the same sense, Old High German gisęzzida, feminine; akin to setzen, whence also Satzung.
Gesicht, neuter, ‘sight, countenance,’ from Middle High German gesiht, Old High German gisiht, feminine, ‘seeing, view, dream, sense of sight,’ akin to sehen.
Gesims, see Sims.
Gesinde, neuter, ‘domestics, servants,’ from Middle High German gesinde, Old High German gisindi, neuter, ‘suite, followers in war’; collective of Middle High German gesint(d), Old High German gisind, ‘follower,’ literally ‘one who joins in a sind,’ from Old High German sind, masculine, ‘journey, expedition’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon sîð, ‘journey,’ whence gesîð, ‘companion, fellow-traveller,’ Gothic sinþs, ‘journey’ (gasinþa, ‘fellow-traveller’). To the Old Teutonic sinþa- (from pre-Teutonic sénto-) corresponds Old Irish sét, ‘way.’ See senden and sinnen. — Modern High German Gesindel, ‘rabble, mob, vagabonds,’ diminutive of Gesinde, also used in a contemptuous sense, so even in late Middle High German gesindelœhe, gesindelach (with a collective suffix). —
Gespan, masculine, ‘companion,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gespan; literally perhaps ‘one who is yoked along with another.’ Compare Gothic gajukô, ‘comrade,’ literally ‘yoke-fellow.’
Gespenst, neuter, ‘spectre, ghost,’ from Mid ​High German gespęnste, neuter (gespęnst, gespanst, feminine), ‘enticement, allurement, infernal illusion, ghost,’ Old High German gispanst, feminine, ‘enticement’; the latter meaning is the original one, since Gespenst (see also ab-, widerspenstig), according to its form, is a verbal abstract of an Old Teutonic spanan, ‘to entice.’ Compare Old Saxon and Old High German spanan, ‘to entice, charm,’ Middle High German spanen (compare Greek σπάω).
Gest, see Gischt.
Gestade, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German gestat(d), neuter, ‘bank, shore.’ Compare Staden,
gestalt, adjective, ‘having form or shape,’ in wohlgestalt, ungestalt; compare Middle High German ungestalt, Old High German ungistalt, ‘disfigured, ugly,’ Middle High German wolgestalt (wol ges'ęllet); a participle of Middle High German stęllen, which may also mean ‘to shape, make, accomplish, set in order.’ To this is allied Gestalt, feminine, ‘external appearance, shape, figure, mien,’ Middle High German gestalt, feminine, ‘shape, appearance, nature,’ Old High German *gistalt. Considering the comparatively late appearance of the word (not until the end of the 13th century), Gestalt may have been derived from the old compound, Old High German ungistalt, Middle High German ungestalt, adjective, ‘disfigured.’
gestatten, verb, ‘to allow, admit, grant,’ from Middle High German gestaten, weak verb, ‘to grant, permit,’ Old High German gistatôn; probably connected most closely with Old High German stata, feminine, ‘favourable opportunity’ (for details see Statt). —
gestehen, verb, ‘to acknowledge, confess,’ from Middle High German gestên, gestân, Old High German gistân, strong verb, ‘to stand still, assist, own, confess’; derivatives, Modern High German geständig, Geständnis, See stehen.
gestern, adverb, ‘yesterday,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gëstern (gëster), Old High German gëstaron (gëstre), adverb; also, with a divergent meaning, Old High German êgëstern, ‘the day after to-morrow’ (and ‘the day before yesterday’); corresponding to Gothic gistradagis, ‘to-morrow,’ Old Icelandic ìgœr, ‘to-morrow, yesterday.’ It is evident that the primary word was used in the double sense of ‘to-morrow’ and ‘yesterday’ (literally ‘on the second day from this’); compare also Anglo-Saxon geostra, gistrandœg, English yesterday, Dutch gisteren, ‘yesterday.’ The form and the idea are Aryan; compare Sanscrit hyás, ‘yesterday,’ Greek χθές, Latin heri (for hjiesi?); ghyés is the primitive form, whence with the suffix tro-, ghistro-, ghyestro- (Gothic gistra). For heute, ‘to-day,’ and morgen, ‘to-morrow’ (Latin cras, Sanscrit çrás), an equally diffused form is wanting.
Gestirn, see Stern. —
Gestöber, see stöbern. —
Gesträuch, see Strauch. —
Gestrüpp, see struppig. —
Gestüppe, see Staub. —
Gestüt, see Stute.
gesund, adjective, ‘sound, healthy, wholesome,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gesunt(d), Old High German gisunt(t); also Middle High German gesunt, Old High German gisunt, m, ‘health’; compare Anglo-Saxon gesund and sund, English sound, Dutch gezond, Old Frisian sund. To East Teutonic the word is unknown. Its connection with Latin sânus, ‘healthy,’ is as feasible phonetically as its connection with geschwind, or with the Teutonic root sinþ, ‘to go,’ in Gesinde.
Getreide, neuter, ‘grain, corn,’ from Middle High German getręgede, neuter, ‘everything that is carried, clothing, luggage; what the soil bears (flowers, grass), corn,’ even in late Old High German (11th century), gitręgidi, neuter, ‘revenue, possesion.’ The Modern High German sense is first found in 14th century.
getreu, see treu. —
getrost, see frösten.
Gevatter, masculine. ‘godfather, sponsor, gossip,’ from Middle High German gevatere, Old High German gifataro, ‘spiritual co-father, godfather’; an imitation of eccles. Latin compater. From this was also formed Old High German gifatara, Middle High German gevatere, feminine, ‘godmother.’ Compare also Vetter and Pate.
gewahr, adjective, ‘aware,’ from Middle High German gewar, Old High German and Old Saxon giwar, ‘heedful, attentive, mindful’; hence gewahr werden is literally ‘to grow careful, mindful’; thus even in Middle High German gewar wërden, Old High German giwar wërdan, Old Saxon giwar wërdan; compare Dutch gewaar, English aware. Allied to Middle High German gewar, feminine, ‘oversight, headship,’ gewarsame, ‘oversight, certainty,’ Modern High German Gewahrsam, masculine, ‘surety, custody.’ —
gewahren, verb, ‘to be aware of, perceive, discover,’ from late Middle High German gewarn, ‘to become aware’; derived from the adjective. See wahrnehmen, wahren.
gewähren, verb, ‘to be surety for, guarantee, attest,’ from Middle High German gewërn, Old High German giwërên, ‘to grant, confess, perform, pay, give security,’ also the equivalent Middle High German wern Old High German wërên; corresponding to Old Frisian wera, ‘to give security.’ From the Old High German participle wërênto, ‘guarantor,’ were adopted the Romance cognates, Italian guarento and French garant, ‘bondsman’ (allied to French garantir, Italian guarentire, ‘to give security,’ whence Modern High German Garantie, English warrant). The connecting link between the Old Teutonic weak verbal stem werai-, ‘to confess,’ and non-Teutonic words has not yet been found; perhaps Irish feraim, ‘I give,’ is allied.
​ Gewalt, feminine, ‘power, authority, force,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gewalt, masculine, feminine, Old High German giwalt, masculine, feminine; allied to walten.
Gewand, neuter, ‘garment, dress, garb,’ from Middle High German gewant(d), neuter, ‘clothing, armour, dress stuff, material’ (with the last meaning Modern High German Gewandhaus is connected); Old High German only in the late recorded compound, badagiwant(t), ‘vestis mutatoria.’ The older word for ‘Gewand’ was Middle High German gewœte, Old High German giwâti, also Old High German and Middle High German wât. Old High German giwant, appears as ‘turning, winding,’ and upon this sense (‘enveloping’) the meaning ‘clothing’ is based; compare Latin toga, from tegere, ‘to cover.’ See winden. —
gewandt, ‘skilled, proficient, adroit,’ participle of wenden.
gewärtig, adjective, ‘expectant, attentive,’ from Middle High German gewęrtec, ‘careful, obliging’; allied to Middle High German gewarten, ‘to hold oneself ready, watch with observant eyes in order to be ready, for a service, or to admit visitors,’ &c. See warten.
Gewehr, neuter, ‘weapon of defence, gun, musket,’ from Middle High German gewęr, feminine neuter, ‘guard, defence, bulwark, weapon; even in Old High German giwęr, neuter, ‘weapon, goad,’ węri, ‘rampart, means of defence.’ Allied to wehren.
Geweih, neuter, ‘horns, antlers,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gewîge (hirzgewîge), neuter; in Old High German the corresponding word is wanting; compare Dutch gewicht, neuter, ‘stag's antlers,’ whence a German variant Gewicht. The cognates have most frequently been connected with the Old Teutonic root wī̆g, ‘to fight’ (see Weigand); Geweih would then be regarded as the weapon of the stag.
Gewerbe, neuter, ‘mode of acquisition, trade, craft, from Middle High German gewërbe, neuter, ‘activity, business’; allied to werben.
Gewicht, neuter, ‘antlers,’ see Geweih. — Gewicht, neuter. ‘weight,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gewiht, gewihte, neuter; Old High German *giwiht; verbal abstract of wiegen; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gewiht, English weight, Dutch gewigt, Old Icelandic vœtt.
gewiegt, adjective, Modern High German only, properly a participle of wiegen, ‘to rock,’ hence in etwas gewiegt, ‘rocked into something,’ i.e. ‘trained up, grown proficient in something.’
gewinnen, verb, ‘to win, acquire, prevail on, conquer,’ from Middle High German gewinnen, Old High German giwinnan, ‘to attain by work, effort, victory, earn something, conquer, get,’ besides which are found Middle High German winnen, Old High German winnan, ‘to toil hard, contend’; corresponding to Gothic winnan (gawinnan), ‘to suffer, feel pain, torment oneself’ (allied to wunns and winnô, feminine, ‘suffering,’ Old High German winna, ‘strife, Middle High German winne, ‘pain’), Old Icelandic vinna, ‘to work, perform, win,’ Anglo-Saxon winnan, ‘to contend, exert oneself, English to win, Dutch gewinnen. The primary meaning of the Teutonic root winn is ‘to toil hard’ (especially used of toiling in fight). Whether Old High German wini, Anglo-Saxon wine, ‘friend,’ and Modern High German Wenne also belong to the same root is doubtful; yet the primitively allied Sanscrit root van signifies ‘to procure for oneself, obtain, assist in obtaining, conquer,’ and ‘to be fond of, favourable to.’
Gewissen, neuter,‘conscience,’ from Middle High German gewiȥȥen, feminine neuter, ‘knowledge, information, privity, inner consciousness, conscience,’ even in Old High German giwiȥȥanî, feminine, ‘conscience’ (Dutch geweten); probably an imitation of Latin conscientia (German ge equivalent to Latin con, as in Gevatter), compare also barmherzig; in Gothic midwissei. Old High German giwiȥȥanî is most closely connected with wissen, THG. infin wiȥȥan.
gewiß, adjective and adverb, ‘sure(ly), certain(ly), confident(ly),’ from the equivalent Middle High German gewis(ss), adjective, gewisse, adverb, Old High German gewis(ss), adjective, gewisso, adverb, ‘certain, sure, reliable’; corresponding to Dutch wis, gewis; Goth only in unwisa- (misspelt for *unwissa), ‘uncertain.’ The Old Teutonic wissa (gawissa-) is an old participle of the Gothic pret.-pres. witan, Old High German wiȥȥan (see wissen), from witta-, widto- (allied to the Aryan root vid). With regard to the pregnant meaning, ‘what is certainly known,’ for ‘what is known,’ compare laut, literally ‘what is heard.’
Gewitter, neuter, ‘thunder-storm,’ from Middle High German gewitere, Old High German giwitiri, ‘bad weather’; collective of Wetter; corresponding to Old Saxon giwidiri, Gothic *gawidri, neuter. The Modern High German meaning is wanting in Old High German and Middle High German. Old High German giwitiri may also mean ‘hail.’
gewogen, adjective, ‘favourably inclined,’ from Middle High German gewëgen, ‘important, inclined’; properly a participle of Middle High German gewëgen, ‘to be weighty, adequate, help.’ See wägen.
gewöhnen, verb, ‘to accustom, inure, habituate,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gewęnen, Old High German giwęnnan (preterite giwenita); corresponding to Dutch gewennen, Anglo-Saxon gewęnnan, Old Icelandic venja, Gothic wanjan, ‘to accustom’; derived from an old adjective or rather participle wana-, ‘accustomed’ (Old Icelandic vanr); for this word a parallel form was chiefly used, the ​latest derivative of which is gewohnt, ‘accustomed,’ Old High German giwon, Middle High German gewon, whence, with a dental suffix (see Mond and Habicht), Modern High German gewohnt (yet without t, Gewohnheit and gewöhnlich); allied to Old High German giwona, Middle High German gewone (gewan), ‘custom.’ For details see wohnen.
Gicht, feminine and neuter, ‘gout, mouth of a furnace,’ from the equivalent Middle High German giht, neuter English (chiefly in the collective form gegihte, neuter), ‘gout, convulsions, spasms.’ Old High German *gihido may be inferred from Anglo-Saxon gihða, masculine, ‘paralysis’; this dental suffix is frequent in old names of diseases. The root gih is not found elsewhere, and its primary meaning is obscure. Gehen cannot in any case be allied, since it presumes a root gai (from ga and a root ī̆; nor could we from this comparison infer the primary meaning of Gicht.
gicksen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German giksen (gëksen), ‘to sigh,’ Old High German gicchaȥȥen; from an onomatopoetic root gik, with a frequentative suffix sen (Old High German aȥȥen, azzen, Gothic atjan).
Giebel, masculine, ‘gable, summit,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gibel, Old High German gibil, masculine; corresponding to Dutch gevel, Old Icelandic gafl, ‘gable,’ Gothic gibla, masculine, ‘spire.’ The Old High German word significs ‘front side’ (e.g., of the ark of the covenant), as well as ‘nap’ (of velvet, &c.), so that ‘extreme end’ is probably the primary meaning. It may be assumed, however, that the word was used in a figurative sense, Middle High German gëbel, Old High German gëbal, masculine, ‘skull, head,’ Old High German gibilla, feminine, ‘skull’; primitively allied to Greek κεφαλή, ‘head’ (Aryan ghebhalâ, the type of this word and of Giebel); hence Giebel is literally ‘head.’
Giebel, Gieben, masculine, ‘crucian’; like the equivalent French gibel, of obscure origin.
Gienmuschel, feminine, ‘a species of tellina,’ allied to Middle High German ginen (gienen), ‘to gape, open the mouth wide,’ Old High German ginên; the latter is derived from an Old Teutonic root gī̆ (Aryan ghī̆), ‘to bark, gape, open the mouth wide.’ See gähnen.
Gier, feminine, ‘eagerness, inordinate desire,’ from Middle High German gir (gër), feminine, ‘longing, craving, greediness,’ Old High German girî, feminine; abstract of an adjective, Old High German gër and giri, Middle High German gër, gir, ‘craving, longing,’ which is connected with the root ger (Aryan gher), discussed under gern. Another abstract form allied to this is Modern High German Gierde (-Begierde), from Middle High German girde, Old High German girida, feminine (Dutch begeerte). For the older adjective Middle High German gir, gër, only gierig is now used, from Middle High German girec, Old High German girîg, ‘desirous.’
gießen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German gieȥen, Old High German gioȥan, ‘to pour, cast metal, form, pour out, spill, stream’; corresponding to Gothic giutan, ‘to pour’ (Old Icelandic gjóta, ‘to throw young, blink with the eyes’), Anglo-Saxon geótan, Dutch gieten; a strong verbal root common to Teutonic, from pre-Teutonic ghud, whence also the Latin root fud in fundo, ‘I pour.’ This root is probably connected with the equivalent root ghu (Greek χυ-, in χέω, χῦμα, Sanscrit root hu, ‘to sacrifice’). See also Götze.
Gift in Mitgift, Brautgift, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gift, feminine, ‘gift, present’; a verbal noun from geben (Gothic gifts, English gift). — Gift, neuter, meaning ‘poison,’ is the same word (for the evolution of meaning compare French poison, from Latin potio, potionem, ‘drink’); even in Middle High German and Old High German gift, feminine (always neuter in this sense in Modern High German), Dutch gift; in Gothic lubja, ‘poison’ (Old High German luppi, Middle High German lüppe, ‘poison’). The common Aryan term for ‘poison’ (Sanscrit viša-, Latin virus, Greek ίος) has not been preserved in Teutonic. See verwesen.
Gilbe, feminine, ‘yellow colour or substance,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gilwe, Old High German giliwî (gëlawî), feminine; an abstract of gelb (Gothic *gilwei, akin to *gilwa-). — To this gilben, ‘to colour yellow,’ is allied.
Gilde, feminine, ‘guild, corporation,’ Modern High German only, from the equivalent Dutch gild; corresponding to Old Icelandic gilde, ‘guild’ (from the middle of the 11th century), Middle English gilde, English guild. The primary meaning of the word, which first appears in Scandinavian, is ‘sacrifice, sacrificial feast, festive gathering, club’; allied to gelten (in the sense of ‘to sacrifice,’ in Old Saxon geldan, and in Anglo-Saxon gildan).
Gimpel, masculine ‘bullfinch,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German gümpel; in Modern High German figuratively ‘simpleton.’ Middle High German gümpel is connected with gumpel, ‘leaping, jest,’ and further with gumpen, ‘to hop’; hence Middle High German gumpelmann (plural gumpelliute), and gumpęlknëht, ‘tumbler, buffoon, fool.’
Ginst, Ginster, masculine, ‘broom (plant),’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Latin gentista, whence also the Romance cognate, French genêt; the genuine Teutonic term is preserved in English broom, Dutch bręm. See Brombeere.
Gipfel, masculine, ‘summit, top, climax,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German gipfel, masculine, the primary word cannot be discovered; Gipfel is scarcely an intensive form of Giebel; Middle High German gupf, gupfe, ‘point, summit,’ is ​still less closely allied, and is rather a variant of Kuppe.
Gips, masculine, ‘gypsum, plaster of Paris,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and late Old High German gips, which again is derived from Middle Latin-Greek gypsum (γύψος, Middle Greek and Modern Greek ν being pronounced like i, see Kirche), whence also French gypse, Dutch gips.
girren, verb, ‘to coo,’ allied to Middle High German gërren, gurren, garren, which are used for various kinds of sounds.
Gischt, older Gäscht, masculine, ‘yeast, foam,’ formed from the equivalent Middle High German jëst, gëst, masculine, corresponding to English yest, yeast, Dutch gest, ‘yeast.’ Allied to gischen (Middle High German gischen), older gäschen (Middle High German geschen, a variant of jësen). See gären, a factitive of Middle High German jësen.
Gitter, neuter, ‘trellice, lattice, railing,’ from the equivalent Middle High German geter, neuter, a variant of gater, Gatter; even in late Middle High German gegitter.
Glanz, masculine, ‘lustre, splendour,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glanz (wanting in Old High German), with which is connected the Old High German and Middle High German adjective glanz, ‘bright, shining’; Modern High German glänzen, from the equivalent Old High German and Middle High German glęnzen; to the same class belong Middle High German glander, ‘splendour, shining,’ and glanst, ‘splendour,’ further glinster, ‘splendour,’ and the very rare strong verb glinzen. A stem glint- is wanting in the rest of the Teutonic dialects unless the cognates of glatt (Gothic *glada-) are allied.
Glas, neuter, ‘glass, tumbler,’ from the equivalent Old High German and Middle High German glas, neuter; a common Teutonic word unknown to the other Aryan groups; compare Old Saxon gles, Dutch glas, Anglo-Saxon glæs, English glass; allied to Old Icelandic gler, neuter, ‘glass,’ with the change of s to r, which proves the word to be primitively Teutonic (*glaza- and *glasa- in Gothic). Hence it is not very probable that the Teutonic word was borrowed, although glass itself was imported by the Phœnicians. The Old Teutonic term for amber (Latin glêsum) is likewise primitively allied; compare Anglo-Saxon glæ̂re, ‘resin of trees.’ See the following word.
Glast, masculine, ‘splendour,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glast. It is uncertain whether it belongs, like the cognates discussed under the preceding word, to a Teutonic root glas, ‘to shine.’
glatt, adjective, ‘smooth, polished, slippery, bald,’ from Middle High German and Old High German glat, ‘smooth, shining’; corresponding to Old Saxon gladmôd, ‘gladsome,’ Dutch glad, ‘smooth,’ Anglo-Saxon glǣ̆d, ‘shining, joyous,’ English glad, Old Icelandic glaðr, ‘joyous, shining.’ Gothic *glada- for pre-Teutonic ghladho- is primitively allied to Old Slovenian gladŭkŭ, ‘smooth,’ Latin glaber (for *ghladhro-), ‘smooth;’ hence not ‘shining’ but ‘smooth’ is the primary meaning of the Teutonic cognates. The connection with Lithuanian glodùs, ‘fitting smoothly’ (from the root glud, ‘to cling to’?), is uncertain. Compare also the following word, as well as glänzen and gleiten.
Glatze, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German glatz, ‘bald pate, bald spot, surface of the head’; Gothic *glatta- for pre-Teutonic ghladhno, allied to glatt (pre-Teutonic ghladho-); hence Glätte is literally ‘smooth spot.’
Glaube, masculine, ‘belief, credit, creed,’ from the equivalent Middle High German geloube (by syncope gloube), Old High German giloubo, masculine; an abstract common to West Teutonic; corresponding to Old Saxon gilôƀo, Dutch geloof, Anglo-Saxon geleáfa (English belief). With this glauben is connected earlier (in Luther) gleuben, from the equivalent Middle High German gelouben (glöuben), Old High German gilouben, gilouppen; compare Old Saxon gilôbian, Dutch gelooven, Anglo-Saxon gelŷfan, English to believe, Gothic galaubjan, ‘to believe.’ The primary meaning is ‘to approve.’ To the same root lub belong erlauben, lieb, loben, and Urlaub.
gleich, adjective, ‘like, similar, equal, direct,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gelîch, Old High German gilîh(hh); common to Teutonic in the same sense; compare Gothic galeiks, Old Icelandic glíkr, Anglo-Saxon gelîc, English like, Dutch gelijk, Old Saxon gilîk. This specifically Teutonic adjective is compounded of the particle ge-, Gothic ga-, and a substantive lîka-, ‘body,’ whose cognates are discussed under Leiche; the compound meant literally ‘having a symmetrical body.’ The word lîk, Modern High German -lich, as the second component, is always used in the same sense; e.g., weiblich, literally ‘having a woman's body’ (it is preserved also in the pronouns welcher, solcher, literally ‘having what kind of body? having a body of that kind’; yet see these words). —
Gleichen, in expressions like meines gleichen, is also based upon the adjective gleich, which is here declined in the weak form; compare Middle High German mîn gelîche, Old High German mîn gilîhho, ‘my equals.’ —
Gleichnis, neuter, ‘similitude, allegory, parable,’ from Middle High German gelîchnisse, |. ni., Old High German gilîhnissa, feminine, ‘copy, model, parable.’ —
gleichsam, adverb, ‘as it were, as though,’ a combination of gleich and sam for gleich wie, ‘just as if’; compare Middle High German sam, same, adverb, ‘thus, just as, even as’ (Old High German sama, from a pronominal stem sama-, ‘the very same’; compare English same, ​Greek ὁμός, Sanscrit sama-, ‘the same, equal’). — See Gleißner.
Gleise, neuter, for Geleise (like glauben, gleich, &c., from ge-l), ‘track (of a wheel) rut,’ allied to Middle High German geleis (rare), feminine, ‘trodden way,’ usually Middle High German leis, leise, feminine, ‘trace, track,’ Old High German *leisa in waganleisa, feminine, ‘track of a waggon’; formed from the Old Teutonic root lais, ‘to go,’ discussed under leisten; Latin lîra, de-lîrare, Old Slovenian lěcha, ‘ridge’ (from *laisâ), Lithuanian lýsė, ‘garden bed,’ are also allied. Compare Modern High German Furche and Latin porca, ‘ridge.’
Gleiß, masculine, ‘fool's parsley,’ first occurs in Modern High German; allied to the following word.
gleißen, verb, ‘to shine, glitter,’ from Middle High German glîȥen, Old High German glîȥȥan, strong verb, ‘to shine, light, glitter’; corresponding to Old Saxon glîtan, to which Gothic glitmunjan, Old Icelandic glita, glitra (English to glitter), ‘to shine.’ The Old Teutonic root ghlī̆d (pre-Teutonic ghlī̆d) appears also in glitzern.
Gleißner, masculine, ‘hypocrite,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gelîchesenœre, allied to older Modern High German gleißen, ‘to dissemble.’ The latter is from Middle High German glîhsen, gelîchesen, Old High German gilîhhisôn, ‘to dissemble’; literally ‘to be equal to any one’ (from gleich), equivalent to the Middle High German parallel form gelîchsensen. Compare further Latin simulare, allied to similis.
gleiten, verb, ‘to glide, slide, slip,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glîten, Old High German glîtan, strong verb; corresponding to Old Saxon glîdan, Dutch glijden, glijen, Anglo-Saxon glîdan, English to glide. Although the roots of gleiten (Aryan ghlī̆-t) and glatt (Aryan ghladh) are as indubitably allied as those of Glanz and gleißen, it is impossible to determine the relation between them more definitely.
Gletscher, masculine, ‘glacier,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, adopted from a Swiss word, which was again obtained from French glacier. Compare Firne, Fohn, Lawine.
Glied, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German gelit(d), neuter and masculine, Old High German gilid, neuter, ‘limb, joint’ (in Middle High German ‘member’ also); likewise in the same sense, mostly without ge-, Middle High German, lit(d), Old High German lid, neuter, neuter; corresponding to Old Saxon lith, Dutch lid (and gelid), Anglo-Saxon lið, Gothic (liþus, ‘limb.’ The common Teutonic stem liþu is ordinarily referred to an Old Teutonic root lī̆þ, ‘to go’ (see leiden, leiten), which is scarcely possible, because Glied cannot originally have been confined to the feet. Besides li- must be the root and -þu-) (for Aryan -tu-) the suffix, on account of the equivalent words formed with the suffix m, Old Icelandic li-mr, ‘limb,’ lim, ‘twig,’ Anglo-Saxon lim, English limb. Also allied perhaps to Lithuanian lëmǔ, ‘stature, growth’ (as well as lělas, ‘tall, slender’?), Compare Bild. —
Gliedmaßen, plural, ‘limbs,’ from Middle High German lidemâȥ, gelidemœȥe, ‘limb’; corresponding to Old Frisian lithmâta, Dutch lidmaat, ledemaat. The meaning of the second part of the compound is not clear (Middle High German gelidemâȥe, feminine, signifies ‘length of body’). Compare Old Swedish liþa-, mót, Icelandic liðamǒt, ‘limbs.’
glimmen, verb, ‘to shine dimly, glimmer,’ from Middle High German glimmen, strong verb, ‘to glow, glimmer,’ allied to Middle High German glamme, feminine, ‘glow,’ glim, ‘spark’ (Old High German *glimman); corresponding to Dutch glimmen; also Old High German gleimo, Middle High German gleime, ‘glowworm’ (whence the proper name Gleim), Middle High German glîmen, ‘to light, shine, Old Saxon glîmo, ‘gleam.’ To the Modern High German and Middle High German glimmern correspondent Anglo-Saxon *glimorian, English to glimmer, to which English gleam (Anglo-Saxon glœ̂m) is allied. The Old Teutonic root glimm, glī̆-m., contained in these cognates, is perhaps lengthened from a root glī̆ (compare Scandinavian gljá, ‘to shine’), with which Greek χλιαρός, ‘warm,’ χλιαένω, ‘to warm,’ as well as Irish gle (from the primary form gleivo-), ‘shining, clear,’ may be connected.
Glimpf, masculine, ‘moderation, lenity,’ from Middle High German glimpf, gelimpf, masculine, ‘consistent, courteous demeanour generally,’ Old High German gilimpf, ‘fitness’; to these are allied Old High German gilimpflîh, Middle High German gelimpflich, ‘consistent,’ whence the Modern High German adverb glimpflich; akin to Old High German gilimpfan, Middle High German gelimpfen, ‘to be suitable’ (in Middle High German also ‘to make suitable’); compare Anglo-Saxon gelimpan, ‘to occur.’ The West Teutonic root limp in an appropriate sense has not been found in the non-Teutonic languages.
glitzern, verb, ‘to glitter, glisten,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glitzern, frequentative of Middle High German glitzen, ‘to shine’; compare Old High German glizzinôn; allied to gleißen, Old High German gliȥȥan. Anglo-Saxon *glitorian, English to glitter, Old Icelandic glitra, ‘to shine,’ are similarly formed.
Glocke, feminine, ‘bell, (public) clock,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glocke, Old High German glocka (never chloccha), feminine; corresponding to Dutch klok, Anglo-Saxon clugge, clucce, English clock, Old Icelandic klukka, feminine, ‘bell’; not originally a German word, since Old High German chlocchôn, ‘to knock,’ cannot well be allied. The Middle Latin clocca recorded in the 8th century, from which French cloche (in Italian campana) is derived, is probably due, like the Teutonic cognates, to Keltic origin; ​compare Welsh cloch, feminine, Old Irish cloc, masculine, ‘bell, clock,’ (primitively Keltic klukko). It is improbable that the Teutonic word is the source of the Romance and the Keltic terms, because Teutonic itself has usually borrowed the words relating to the Church and its institutions. The Old Keltic and Romance cognates in the form of klukka found their way into Teutonic; the High German forms (Swiss klokke, not χlokχe) may have been first adopted about 800 A.D., from Low German (Anglo-Saxon).
glosten, verb, ‘to glimmer,’ from Middle High German glosten (a variant of glosen), ‘to glow, shine’; allied to English gloss, Scandinavian glossi; derived from the root glas appearing in Glas?.
glotzen, verb, ‘to stare,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glotzen; Old High German *glozzôn, Gothic *gluttôn are wanting; compare English to gloat, Old Icelandic glotta, ‘to sneer’; perhaps primitively allied to Old Slovenian ględati, ‘to look, see.’
Glück, neuter, ‘luck, fortune, success, happiness,’ from Middle High German gelücke (by syncope glücke), neuter, ‘luck, accident’; Old High German *gilucchi is wanting; a specifically German word which in the 14th century passed in the form into Scandinavian (Swed. lycka, Danish lykke), and as luck into English (from Dutch geluk, ‘fortune’). On account of its meaning its connection with locken is dubious.
Glucke, feminine, ‘clucking-hen,’ with the variant Klucke (Low German Klukse), from the equivalent Middle High German klucke. Compare Middle High German glucken, klucken, ‘to cluck’; allied to Dutch klokken, English to cluck (Anglo-Saxon cloccian); apparently an onomatopoeic class which is found with corresponding sounds in Romance; compare Italian chiocciare, French glousser (Latin glocire), ‘to cluck,’ Italian chioccia, Spanish clueca, ‘clucking-hen.’
Glufe, Guffe, feminine (Upper German word), ‘pin,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German glufe, guffe, feminine; origin obscure.
glühen, verb, ‘to glow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German glüen, glüejen, Old High German gluoen, weak verb; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon glôwan, English to glow, Dutch gloeijen, Old Icelandic glóa, ‘to glow.’ From the Teutonic root glô, glê, are also derived Modern High German Glut, Middle High German and Old High German gluot, feminine, to which Dutch gloed, Anglo-Saxon gléd (Gothic *glô-di-), English dialectic gleed correspond, likewise Anglo-Saxon glôma, glômung, ‘twilight,’ English gloom, Old Icelandic glámr, ‘moon.’ With the Teutonic root gló, glê (from pre-Teutonic ghlū̆), Lithuanian zlejà, ‘twilight,’ is also connected.
Gnade, feminine, ‘grace, favour, mercy, pardon,’ from Middle High German gnâde, genâde, feminine, ‘bliss, rest, condescension, support, favour, mercy,’ Old High German ginâda, feminine, ‘condescension, sympathy, compassion, mercy’; corresponding to Old Saxon ginâtha, nâtha, ‘favour, help,’ Dutch genade, Old Icelandic náð, feminine (in the plural), ‘rest.’ The meanings ‘favour, help,’ &c., are attested by the Gothic verb niþan, ‘to support.’ To the Teutonic root nē̆́þ (from Aryan nē̆́th) some assign the primary meaning ‘to incline, decline,’ in order to elucidate ‘rest’ (in Scandinavian; compare Middle High German diu sunne gienc ze gnâden, ‘zur Ruhe,’ i.e. ‘the sun set’). Compare the cognates, Sanscrit root nâth, ‘to beg,’ nâthá, ‘help, refuge.’
Gnenn, masculine, ‘father’ (dialectic). See Knän.
Gold, neuter, ‘gold,’ from the equivalent Middle High German golt(d), Old High German gold, neuter; a common Teutonic word; compare Old Saxon gold, Dutch goud, Anglo-Saxon and English gold, Old Icelandic goll, gull (for golþ-), Gothic gulþ, neuter, ‘gold,’ from pre-Teutonic ghlto-, to which Old Slovenian zlato, Russian zoloto (from zolto) are primitively allied; the word Silber is also common to Teutonic and Slavonic. The primary sense of the root ghel, of which Gelt is a participle derivative, is ‘to be yellow’; akin to Sanscrit hiraṇya, ‘gold,’ from hári, ‘gold yellow’; hence probably Modern High German gelb and glühen, with their cognates, are also primitively allied. In any case, Greek χρῦσός has no connection with the Teutonic word.
Golf, masculine, ‘gulf,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German golfe; the latter, like English gulf, is derived from French golfe, which, with its Romance cognate (Italian golfo), is based upon Greek κόλφος (late κόλπος).
gönnen, verb, ‘to grant, not to begrudge, wish well to,’ from Middle High German gunnen, Old High German giunnan, ‘to grant willingly, bestow, allow’; Old High German and Old Saxon mostly unnan, in the same sense (in Old High German and Middle High German pret.-pres.); compare Dutch gunnen, Anglo-Saxon unnan, Old Icelandic unna, The root is an; whether this is allied to Latin amare, ‘to love,’ or to Greek ὀνίνημι, ‘I use,’ or to the cognates of ahnden, is uncertain on account of its meaning; most probably Greek προσ-ηνής, ‘inclined,’ and ἀπηνής ‘disaffected,’ are allied primitively. Compare Gunst.
Gosse, feminine, ‘sink,’ first occurs in Modern High German; akin to gießen; it corresponds to Low German gote, Dutch goot.
Gote, feminine, ‘godmother,’ from Middle High German gote, gotte, feminine, ‘‘godmother’ Old High German gota; besides these Middle High German göte, götte, masculine, godfather,’ occur. Probably Old High German *goto and gota are pet terms (compare Base) for the co pounds gotfater, gotmuoter, gotsunu, ' ​gottohtar; compare the equivalent Anglo-Saxon godfœder, godsunu, goddohter, which are equal to English godfather, godson, and goddaughter; also Swedish gubbe, ‘old man,’ gumma, ‘old woman’ (dialectic ‘godmother’), are pet names for guðfaðer, guðmóðer. As may be seen under Gevatter and Pate, the godfather is pater spiritualis, the child baptized filius or filia spiritualis; compare Vetter also.
Gott, masculine, ‘God,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German got, masculine, a term common to Teutonic, unknown to the rest of the Aryan group; compare Old Saxon, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon and English god, Old Icelandic guð, goð, Gothic guþ, ‘God.’ The form of the Gothic and Scandinavian words is neuter (compare Abgott), but the gender is masculine. Old Icelandic goð, neuter, is mostly used in the plural Gothic guda- and guþa-, neuter, ‘God,’ are based upon Aryan ghu-to-m., in which -to- is the participle suffix discussed under falt, laut, and traut. The Aryan root ghu- is Sanscrit hû, ‘to invoke the gods’ (participle hū̆tá-). Gott in the originally neuter form is the ‘invoked being’; in the Vedas the epithet puruhûta, ‘oft-invoked,’ is usually applied to Indra. The word Gott being specifically Teutonic, there is no term common to this group and one of the allied languages (yet compare Old Icelandic tíve, ‘deity,’ with Sanscrit dêva, Latin deus?) Göttin, the feminine of Gott, is from the equivalent Middle High German gotinne, götinne, gutinne, Old High German gutin (Gothic *gudini, Anglo-Saxon gyden, Dutch godin).
Götze, ‘idols, false god,’ from Middle High German götze, masculine, ‘statue for ecclesiastical purposes’; literally ‘cast (image),’ (allied to gießen, Middle High German gieȥen?). Perhaps, however, Götze is a short form of Götterbild, just as Götz is pet name for Gottfried; compare Spatz and Sperling.
Grab, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German grap(b), Old High German grab, neuter, ‘grave’; like Graben; masculine, ‘ditch, trench, sewer,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grabe, Old High German grabo, masculine; allied to Modern High German graben, ‘to dig, engrave,’ from the equiv: Middle High German graben, Old High German graban, strong verb; a common Teutonic strong verb, corresponding to Gothic graban, Anglo-Saxon grafan, English to grave, Dutch graven (graf, ‘grave’); from a common Teutonic root grab (pre-Teutonic ghrabh), which is primitively allied to Old Slovenian grebą, ‘I dig, row,’ and grobŭ, ‘grave’; Greek γράφω, ‘I scratch, write,’ has probably no connection with the word, Compare Griffel, Grube, Gruft, grübeln.
Grad, masculine, ‘degree, step, stage, rank,’ from Middle High German grât (t and d), ‘grade, degree,’ even in late Old High German grâd; from Latin gradus, whence also French gré (Old Irish grád).
Graf, masculine, ‘count, earl,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grâve (with the variant grœve, chiefly in the plural), Old High German grâvo, grâvio (upon the old j form is based the Modern High German proper name Gräf, a parallel form of Graf). Old High German grâvio assumes a Gothic *grêfja (‘commander’), which is the term for the agent from the verbal noun gagrêfts, ‘command, order,’ preserved in Gothic. The Anglo-Saxon term gerêfa (Anglo-Saxon scîrgerêfa, English sheriff), which is similar in meaning, is yet radically different, since it points to a Gothic *ga-rôfja; its original sense is probably ‘head of a troop,’ allied to *rôf, Old High German ruova, Old Icelandic róf (stafróf), ‘number.’ Old Icelandic (Middle English), greife, ‘count,’ is derived from Middle Low German grêve (from Old Low German *grâfio). All explanations of Graf which do not originate in a Teutonic root grêf, ‘to command,’ conflict with the laws relating to the change of sound and meaning. Note the signification of Graf in Dutch pluimgraaf, ‘one who minds the fowls,’ Salzgraf, ‘manager of a saltwork,’ Deichgraf, &c.
gram, adjective, ‘adverse, hostile, vexed, angry,’ from Middle High German and Old High German gram, ‘angry, peevish, irritated, enraged’; corresponding to the equivalent Old Saxon gram, Dutch gram, Anglo-Saxon gram, Old Icelandic gramr. To Gothic *grama- (from pre-Teutonic ghromo-), Greek χρόμαδος, ‘gnashing’ (and χρεμέθω, Latin fremo, ‘I gnash’?), seem allied. From the Teutonic adjective is derived the Romance cognate, Italian gramo, ‘gloomy.’ — Gram, masculine, as a substantive even in Middle High German gram. From the same root. grimm is derived. See the latter word.
Gran, masculine, ‘grain,’ first occurs in Modern High German from Latin granum, ‘grain.’ From the same source Modern High German Grän is also derived through the medium of French grain.
Granal, masculine, Granele, feminine, ‘shrimp,’ from the Dutch, in which the modern form is garnaal, formerly granaal, graneel, in the same sense.
Grand, masculine, ‘gravel,’ first occurs in Modern High German from Low German; just as Mulm (which see) is allied to mahlen, so Grand is probably connected with an Old Teutonic root meaning ‘to grind’; compare Anglo-Saxon grindan, English to grind (from pre-Teutonic root ghrendh, whence also Latin frendo, ‘to gnash’).
Granne, feminine, ‘bristle (of swine), awn,’ from Middle High German gran, grane, feminine, ‘point of hair, moustache, fish-bone’ (in the latter sense Granne is also used dialectic), Old High German grana, ‘moustache’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon ​grǫnu, Old Icelandic grǫn, ‘moustache.’ To the Goth grana, recorded by Isidore, are due Spanish greña, ‘tousled hair,’ and Old French grenon, ‘moustache and whiskers.’ The Teutonic cognates are primitively allied to Old Irish grend, Gaelic greann, ‘moustache’ and ‘shaggy hair.’ See Grat.
Grans, masculine, ‘ship's beak,’ from Middle High German grans, masculine, ‘bird's beak, ship's beak,’ Old High German grans, granso, ‘ship's beak’; a corresponding word is wanting in the other Teutonic languages. Origin obscure.
grapsen, verb, ‘to grasp, snatch,’ simply Modern High German; probably allied primitively to Modern High German Garbe, and English to grab, to grasp, Sanscrit gṛbh, ‘to seize,’ Lithuanian grópti, ‘to snatch, grasp.’
Gras, neuter, ‘grass,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gras, neuter; corresponding to Old Saxon and Dutch gras, Anglo-Saxon grœs (gœrs), English grass, Gothic gras, neuter, ‘herb’; common to Teutonic but unknown to the other Aryan languages. Allied to Middle High German gruose (Gothic *grôsa), ‘young shoot, green of plants’; probably the s in these words is a suffix, so that the Teutonic root is grâ-; compare Greek χόρτος, ‘grass.’ An Aryan root ghra- is also attested by Latin grâmen, as well as by Modern High German grün and its cognates.
gräßlich, adjective, ‘horrible, hideous, ghastly,’ formed from early Modern High German graß; the latter is derived from Middle High German graȥ, ‘furious, angry,’ of which Old High German preserves only the adverb graȥȥo, ‘violently, very’; Gothic *grata-, as well as correspondences in the remaining dialects, is wanting. Gothic grêtan, ‘to weep’ (Middle High German grâȥen), is scarcely allied.
Grat, masculine, and Gräte, feminine, ‘point, ridge, fish-bone,’ from Middle High German grât, masculine, ‘fish-bone, awn, back-bone, mountain ridge’; in Modern High German the word has assumed two forms, according to the meanings. Since Graune, ‘awn,’ has also the dialectic sense ‘fish-bone,’ both words may perhaps be traced back to a common root gra-, ‘to be pointed, bristly.’
grau, adjective, ‘grey,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grâ (genitive grâwes), Old High German grâo (genitive grâwes); corresponding to Dutch graauw, Anglo-Saxon grœ̂g, English grey, gray, Old Icelandic grár, ‘grey.’ Its origin and further relations cannot be traced; Aryan ghrêw?.
Gräuel, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German griul, griuwel, masculine, ‘terror, horror, abomination’ (Dutch gruwel); allied to Modern High German grauen, Middle High German grûwen, ‘to horrify, terrify,’ Old High German ingrûên, ‘to shudder.’ Akin also to Modern High German grausam, from Middle High German grûwesam, ‘exciting terror’; Modern High German gräulich, from Middle High German griuwelich. The root grû, ‘to frighten,’ is wanting in the rest of the Old Teutonic dialects. See Graus.
Graupe, feminine, ‘peeled grain or barley,’ first occurs in early Modern High German; in the 15th century the compound îs-grûpe, ‘hailstone,’ is recorded. Allied to Swedish grœpe, grjupe, ‘shot,’ as well as Russian krupa, Old Slovenian krupa, ‘crumb,’ Servian krupa, ‘hail, sleet.’ Probably the cognates are native to Slavonic.
Graus, neuter, ‘horror, dread,’ from Middle High German grûs, masculine, ‘dread, terror’; allied to Modern High German grausen, Middle High German grûsen, griusen, Old High German grûwisôn, grûsôn, ‘to be terrified’; formed from the suffix -isôn and the root grû. See Gräuel, where grausam is also discussed.
Grauß, masculine, ‘gravel,’ from Middle High German, grûȥ. See Grieß.
Greif, masculine, ‘griffin,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grîf, grîfe, Old High German grîf, grîfo, masculine. Whether the word was adopted from Greek through an Eastern source before the 8th century (hence the change of p into f) is questionable; in any case, Greek γρύψ, ‘griffin’ (stem γρῦπ; ν in the Byzantine and modern pronunciation equal to î; compare Leier), must be regarded as the final source of Greif; see also Drache. Chiefly through the legends concerning Duke Ernst the griffin became popular in Germany, though not among the other Teutons. In Romance too the bird is similarly named — Italian griffo, griffone, French griffon (English griffin). Hence Old High German grîfo and its Romance correspondences are probably to be traced back to a Middle Latin grîphus, derived from the Greek word; compare also Old Irish gríf. Since, moreover, the belief in fabulous birds that carry off men is genuinely Teutonic, a Teutonic form *grîpo, ‘snatcher’ (allied to greifen), may have been combined with γρῦπ-.
greifen, verb, ‘to grasp, seize,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grîfen, Old High German grîfan, strong verb; corresponding to Old Saxon grîpan, Dutch grijpen, Anglo-Saxon grîpan, English to gripe, Gothic greipan, ‘to seize, lay hold of’; a common Teutonic verb, whence French gripper, ‘to clutch,’ and griffe, ‘claw.’ In the non-Teutonic languages there exists an allied Aryan root ghrī̆b, in Lithuanian greibiu, greibti, ‘to seize,’ and Lettic griba, ‘will,’ gribêt, ‘to wish.’
greinen, verb, ‘to whine, grin,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grînen, Old High German grînan, strong verb, ‘to distort the mouth with laughing or crying, grumble, snarl,’ allied to ​Middle High German grinnen, ‘to gnash,’ English to grin, to groan, (Anglo-Saxon grânian), also grinsen; from the Old German cognates Italian digrignare, ‘to grin,’ is derived. The root grī̆, pre-Teutonic ghrī̆, is not found elsewhere (Sanscrit hrî, ‘to be ashamed’?).
greis, adjective, ‘grizzled, hoary, aged,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grîs, Old High German grîs (grîsil); compare Old Saxon grîs, ‘hoary’; allied to Greis from Middle High German grîse, ‘old man.’ From this Old German word, unknown to the other Teutonic dialects and obscure in its origin, are derived the Romance cognates, Italian griso, grigio, French gris, ‘grey’ (Italian grigio, from Gothic *greisja-?. Compare Middle Latin griseus, ‘grey’).
grell, adjective, ‘shrill, glaring, dazzling,’ from Middle High German grël(ll), ‘rough, angry,’ allied to Middle High German grëllen, ‘to cry aloud, angrily’; wanting in Old High German; compare'AS. griellan, ‘to gnash, sound harshly.’ The root and further cognates are unknown; akin to Grille?.
Grempelmarkt, masculine, ‘frippery, rag-fair,’ allied to Middle High German grempeler, ‘slop-seller, retailer,’ grempen, ‘to keep a retail shop, deal in second-hand goods’; the latter is akin to Italian comprare (with r transposed crompare), ‘to buy,’ compra, ‘purchase.’
Grensing, masculine, the plant Potentilla anserina (silver-weed, goose-grass, or wild tansy), from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German grensinc; akin to Middle High German grans, ‘beak.’ See Grans.
Grenze, feminine, ‘boundary, frontier, limit,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German gręniz, gręnize, feminine (appeared in the 13th century in the district belonging to the Teutonic Order), which is again derived from Polish and Russian granica, Bohemian hranice. The native word for Grenze is Warf.
Greuel, see Gräuel.
Griebe (Bavarian Greube), feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German griebe (Bavarian griube, Swiss grṻbe), Old High German griobo, griubo, masculine, ‘greaves’ (in Old High German also, ‘frying-pan’?); corresponding to Anglo-Saxon greófa, English greaves, Swedish grefwar; g in this word scarcely represents the prefix ga-, ge-, so that the word might be connected with the root of Old High German girouben, ‘to fry.’
Griebs, neuter, ‘core of fruit,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grobiȥ, grübiȥ (also ‘larynx’), to which the dialectic variants Middle High German grütz (gürbsi), Modern High German Gretzen, are akin. Old High German *grobaȥ and *grubiȥ are wanting; in form they are connected with Old High German obaȥ, ‘fruit,’ with Middle High German ebiȥ, ebitz, ‘core of fruit,’ and with Modern High German Butzen, as well as Swiss böki.
Griesgram, masculine, ‘ill-humour, spleen,’ from Middle High German grisgram, masculine, ‘gnashing of teeth’; allied to Middle High German grisgramen, -grammen, ‘to gnash with the teeth, snarl,’ Old High German grisgramôn, gristgrimmôn, ‘to gnash,’ Anglo-Saxon gristbîtung, ‘gnashing of teeth.’ The first syllable represents grist-, but that does not make the early history of the word clearer.
Grieß, masculine and neuter, ‘gravel, groats,’ from Middle High German grieȥ (grûȥ), masculine and neuter, ‘grain of sand, sand, gravel’; the Modern High German sense has not yet been found in Middle High German (yet late Middle High German grieȥmël, ‘coarse ground flour’), Old High German grioȥ, masculine and neuter, ‘sand, gravel’; corresponding to Old Saxon griot, Anglo-Saxon greôt, ‘sand,’ Old Icelandic grjót, ‘stones.’ On the Old German meaning of these cognates are based Italian greto, ‘stony bed of a river,’ and French grès, ‘sandstone,’ grêle, ‘hail.’ The Modern High German signification is connected with the closely allied cognates of Grüße.
Griffel, masculine, ‘slate pencil, graving tool, stylus,’ from the equivalent Middle High German griffel, Old High German griffil, masculine; related to greifen as Halter to halten?. Yet it is more probably based on a Teutonic root grep, ‘to dig’; compare Swedish urgrœpa, ‘to excavate,’ Old Swedish and Old Icelandic grôp, ‘pit,’ Low German Grüppe, ‘gutter.’
Grille, feminine, ‘cricket, whim, crotchet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grille, Old High German grillo, masculine; corresponding to Italian grillo (from Greek γρύλλος, ‘grasshopper’).
grimm, adjective, ‘fierce, wrathful, furious,’ from Middle High German grim, grimme, Old High German grim, grimmi, ‘unfriendly, frightful, savage’ (to which Modern High German grimmig, Middle High German grimmec and Old High German grimmig are allied). Corresponding to Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon grim(mm), English grim, Dutch grimmig, Old Icelandic grimmr, Gothic *grimma-; allied to Modern High German gram, root grem (by gradation gram). —
Grimm, masculine, ‘fury, rage, wrath,’ from Middle High German grim (mm), masculine; compare Dutch grim.
Grimmen, neuter, ‘ache, gripe,’ in Bauchgrimmen, from the equivalent Middle High German grimme, masculine; to this the simply Modern High German Grimmdarm, ‘colon,’ is akin.
Grind, masculine, ‘scab, scurf, itch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grint(d), Old High German grint, masculine; allied, like Grand, to Old Teutonic grindan? or to Grund?.
grinsen, verb, ‘to grin, show the teeth,’ with a derivative s from Middle High German grinnen, ‘to gnash.’ See greinen.
​ Grippe, feminine ‘influenza,’ Modern High German only, from the equivalent French grippe.
grob, adjective, ‘coarse, uncouth, rude,’ from Middle High German grop(b), gerop, Old High German gerob, grob, ‘thick, awkward, indelicate’; compare Dutch and Middle Low German grof, ‘coarse.’ The explanation of the word is not certain, since it is wanting in the other Teutonic languages; it is undecided whether the term is compounded with ge-, Gothic ga-; if Gothic *ga-hruba- were the primitive form, the connection with Anglo-Saxon hreóf, Old High German riob, ‘scabiosus,’ would still remain doubtful.
grollen, verb, ‘to bear ill-will or a grudge; roll (of thunder,)’ allied to Middle High German grüllen, ‘to scorn, ridicule’; compare Anglo-Saxon gryllan, ‘to gnash,’ Middle English grillen, ‘to vex’?.
Groppe, masculine and feminine, ‘miller's thumb,’ from the equivalent Middle High German groppe; akin to Middle Latin carabus?.
Gros, Groß, neuter, simply Modern High German, from the equivalent French grosse, ‘twelve dozen, gross.’
Groschen, masculine, ‘groschen (11/5d.),’ from the equivalent Middle High German gros, grosse, masculine; like French gros, ‘groschen,’ from Middle Latin grossus; related to the common Romance adjective, Italian grosso, ‘thick’ (compare French gros), just as Middle Low German grote (whence English groat), ‘groschen,’ to groß.
groß, adjective, ‘great, large, huge, grand,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German grôȥ; a specifically West Teutonic adjective (in Gothic mikils, Middle High German michel, Greek μεγάλη); compare Old Saxon grôt, Dutch groot, English great, Anglo-Saxon greát. The assumed Gothic *grauta- (pre-Teutonic ghraudo-) has no correspondences in the non-Teutonic languages. On account of the Teutonic au especially, Latin grandis cannot be primitively allied; it is rather connected with Latin rûdus, raudus, neuter, ‘lump of bronze, stones broken into small pieces,’ and rudis, ‘raw’ (Aryan root ghrū̆d).
Grotte, see Gruft.
Grotzen, see Griebs.
Grube, feminine, ‘pit, cavity, quarry, mine, ditch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gruobe, Old High German gruoba, feminine; compare Gothic grôba, feminine, ‘pit, cavern’ (English groove); allied to graben. Whether Gruft, feminine, ‘cave, hollow, sepulchre,’ is connected with it is questionable; Middle High German gruft, Old High German gruft, might well correspond in form to graben, as the vowels of grübeln prove. But the absence of the word in the other Old Teutonic dialects probably shows that it was borrowed from the Romance cognates, Italian grotta, French grotte, ‘grotto’ (whence also Grotte, in Modern High German only), which are based on early Middle Latin grupta (Greek κρύπτη). —
grübeln, verb, ‘to grub, rack one's brains, brood,’ from Middle High German grübelen, Old High German grubilôn, ‘to excavate by boring, investigate closely’; it is certainly connected with the root grab, ‘to dig’ (compare English to grub).
Grummet, neuter, ‘aftermath,’ from Middle High German gruënmât, gruonmât, neuter, ‘grass mown when it is green, i.e. unripe, aftermath’; the derivation from the root grô (see grün), ‘to grow,’ is less probable (Grümmet, literally ‘grass mown during its growth’). Compare Mahd.
grün, adjective, ‘green, fresh, vigorous, unripe,’ from Middle High German grüene, Old High German gruoni, ‘green, fresh’; corresponding to Old Saxon grôni, Dutch groen, Anglo-Saxon grêne, English green, Old Icelandic grœ́nn, Gothic *grô-ni-, ‘green'; allied to a Teutonic root grô, ‘to grow, become green.’ Compare Middle High German grüejen, Old High German gruoan, ‘to grow green’; Anglo-Saxon grôwan, English to grow, Dutch groeijen, ‘to grow, thrive.’ Akin to Gras and its Aryan cognates.
Grund, masculine, ‘ground, earth, basis, rudiment, reason,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grunt(d), Old High German grunt, masculine; corresponding to Dutch grond, Anglo-Saxon grund, English ground, Old Icelandic grund, ‘meadow land,’ grunnr (from grun-þus), ‘bottom of the sea;’ Gothic grundu-waddjus, ‘foundation wall.’ Gothic grundu, from pre-Teutonic ghrentu- (with t on account of Old Icelandic grunnr), cannot have originated in the Teutonic root grind (pre-Teutonic ghrendh) mentioned under Grand. No cognates are found in the non-Teutonic languages.
Grünspan, masculine, ‘verdigris,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German gruënspân, masculine, formed like the ordinary Middle High German spângrüen, neuter, ‘verdigris,’ from Middle Latin viride Hispanum.
grunzen, verb, ‘to grunt,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German grunzen (Old High German *grunnazzen); corresponding to English to grunt (Middle English grunten); intensive form of Middle High German grinnen, Anglo-Saxon grunnian, ‘to gnash.’ The stem upon which it is based is probably imitative, as the similarly sounding Latin grunnire, Greek γρύζειν, lead us to suppose.
gruseln, verb, ‘to inspire terror,’ Modern High German simply, intensive of grausen.
Gruß, masculine, ‘greeting, salute,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German gruoȥ, masculine; corresponding to Dutch groet. ‘To this is allied grüßen, from Middle High German grüeȥen (grüetzen), Old High German gruoȥȥen (gruozzen), weak verb, ‘to address, accost’ (also with hostile intent ‘to ​attack’); corresponding to Anglo-Saxon grêtan, English to greet, Dutch groeten, Old Saxon grôtian, ‘to address,’ Old Icelandic grœta. The latter is probably the primary meaning of the cognates, which are merely West Teutonic. Origin obscure.
Grütze, feminine, ‘groats, grit, brain,’ from Middle High German grütze, ‘water-gruel’; a variant of the equivalent Middle High German griuȥe (griutze?); Old High German gruzzi (whence Italian gruzzo, ‘pile of collected things’); compare Anglo-Saxon grŷt and grytt, English grit and groat (from Anglo-Saxon *grota?), Old Icelandic grautr, Dutch grut, gort, ‘groats.’ From Old German the Romance cognates, French gruau, ‘groats,’ are derived. Besides Grieß, Middle High German grûȥ, ‘grain,’ is also allied to Grütze; hence ‘grain’ may be the primary meaning of the Teutonic root grū̆t, with which the primitively cognates Lithuanian grúdas, ‘grain, kernel,’ and Old Slovenian gruda, ‘clod,’ are also connected.
gucken, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German gucken, gücken, ‘to peep’; the word is wanting in Old High German and in Old Teutonic generally. Origin obscure.
Gulden, masculine, ‘florin,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gulden, guldîn, masculine, ‘the golden coin,’ from Middle High German guldîn, ‘golden.’ The absence of mutation from u to ü is in accordance with the practice of earlier Upper German (Suabian Gülden).
Gülte, feminine, ‘payment, interest,’ from Middle High German gülte, feminine, ‘debt, payment, interest, rent.’ Akin to gelten.
Gundelrebe, feminine, ‘ground-ivy,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gunderëbe; the deviation in meaning in Old High German gundrëba, ‘maple,’ is remarkable. Allied to Old High German gund (gunt), ‘pus, poison,’ Anglo-Saxon gund, Gothic gunds, ‘pus’?. In that case the word would signify ‘poison-vine’ (see Rebe), Ground-ivy was used as a medicinal herb.
Günsel, masculine, ‘bugle(-plant),’ simply Modern High German, transformed from Latin consolida, “a name applied by the earlier herb-gatherers to all wound-healing plants.”
Gunst, feminine, ‘favour, partiality, permission,’ from Middle High German and Middle Low German gunst, masculine, and feminine, ‘benevolence, permission,’ for *geunst, allied to Old High German gi-unnan (see gönnen); in Old High German unst, feminine (Middle High German also gund; compare Old Icelandic ǫfund, ‘disfavour’), Gothic ansts, ‘favour, mercy,’ Anglo-Saxon êst, Old High German anst, ‘favour, mercy.’
Gurgel, feminine, ‘gullet, throat,’ from Middle High German gurgel, Old High German gurgula, feminine; a remarkably early loan-word (compare Körper) from Latin gurgulio, which supplanted a genuine Teutonic word primitively allied to it — Old High German quërchala, quërcha, ‘gullet,’ allied to Old Icelandic kverk, ‘gullet.’
Gurke, feminine, ‘cucumber,’ first occurs in early Modern High German; corresponding to Dutch agurkje, English gherkin, Danish agurke; borrowed from Polish ogurek, Bohemian okurka; the latter has been derived from late Greek ἀγγούριον, ‘water-melon,’ and further from Persian ankhara. In Upper German (also in the Wetter and Hessian dialects) Kukumer is used instead of Gurke.
gürren, verb, ‘to coo,’ from Middle High German gurren, ‘to bray’; allied to Middle High German gërren. See girren.
Gurt, masculine, ‘girth, girdle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gurt (in compounds über-, umbe-, under-gurt); allied to gürten from the equivalent Middle High German gürten (gurten), Old High German gurten (gurtjan); compare Old Saxon gurdian, Dutch gorden, Anglo-Saxon gyrdan, English to gird; in Gothic gairdan, strong verb ‘to gird.’ With the root gerd contained in these words are connected Old Icelandic garðr, ‘fence round the farm,’ Old Slovenian gradŭ, ‘wall, town’ (see Garten, and respecting the evolution of meaning see Zaun). —
Gürtel, masculine, ‘girdle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gürtel, masculine and feminine, Old High German gurtil, masculine, gurtila, feminine. Compare English girdle, from Anglo-Saxon gyrdel.
Guß, masculine, ‘shower, torrent, spout, cast,’ from Middle High German and Old High German guȥ(ȥȥ), ‘cast, shower.’ Allied to gießen.
gut, adjective, ‘good, virtuous, skilful,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German guot; a common Teutonic term unknown to the non-Teutonic languages; compare Gothic gôds, Old Icelandic gôðr, Anglo-Saxon gôd, English good, Dutch goed. Its connection with Greek ἀγαθός is phonetically uncertain. Only in Teutonic are found reliable cognates which may elucidate the primary meaning of gut (yet compare Old Slovenian godŭ, ‘suitable time’?). The cognates of Gatte, with which English together, to gather, Gothic gadiliggs, ‘relative,’ also seem to be connected, prove that the primary meaning of gut is ‘belonging to one another, suitable.’ For the comparison of the adjective see baß, besser.