An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Wermut

by Friedrich Kluge

Wermut, masculine, ‘wormwood, bitterness,’ from the equivalent Middle High German wërmuot, wërmüete, feminine and neuter, Old High German wërmuota (wormuota), feminine. There is no clear etymological connection with Wurm, to which this uncompounded word (compare Armut) is instinctively allied (compare English wormwood, from Anglo-Saxon wërmôd, wormôd). Its relation to warm too is not certain.