An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Distel

by Friedrich Kluge

Distel, feminine, ‘thistle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German distel, masculine and feminine, Old High German distila, feminine, distil, masculine; corresponds to Dutch and Low German distel, Anglo-Saxon þistel, English thistle, Old Icelandic þistell. Modern Low German and English dialects have î in the accented syllable; hence the root is þī̆st? Akin to Gothic wiga-deinô, ‘milk-thistle’?.