An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zwiebel

by Friedrich Kluge

Zwiebel, feminine (Swiss zidele, Bavarian zwifel, Thuringian zippel), ‘onion, bulb,’ from the equivalent Middle High German zwibolle, zibolle (with the variants zwippel, zwifel, zibel, zebulle), masculine Old High German zwibollo, zwivolle, masculine. A corruption of Latin caepulla, ‘onion,’ whence also the Romance words, Italian cipolla, French ciboule; Danish swible has been adopted from German. The genuine German word for Zwiebel is Bolle (properly ‘bulb, ball’), on which Middle High German zwibolle was based. The English word bulb is derived from the Latin bulbus (Greek βολβόρ), ‘bulb, onion.’