Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/76

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teixmo; comp. âla from *axla, under Achsel). The Aryans had learnt the way to build waggons in their Asiatic home ere the separated into different tribes: this is proved by the words Joch, Nabe, Rad, Wagen.

Deichsel (2.), f., ‘adze’; comp. MidHG. dëhsel, OHG. dëhsala, ‘axe, hatchet’; from a Teut. root þehs, equiv. to Aryan teks. Comp. OSlov. tesati, ‘to hew,’ Lith. taszýti, ‘to hew, fashion with an axe,’ Sans. takšan, ‘carpenter’ (see under Dachs). The ei of the ModHG. word is based upon a variant þîhs, which is MidG. and LG.; numerous HG. dialects preserve the old e.

dein, pronom. adj., ‘thy,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. dîn, corresponds to Goth. þeins, AS. þîn, E. thy, thine; related to du.

Demant, Diamant, m., ‘diamond, adamant,’ from the equiv. MidHG. diamant, dîemant, from Fr. diamant, Ital. diamante (Lat. adamantem).

Demut, f., ‘submissiveness, humility,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dêmuot, diemuot, diemüete, OHG. deomuoti, ‘condescension, gentleness, modesty.’ The correctly developed form from the OHG. deomuoti would be ModHG. Diemüte; the present form is due partly to LG. influence, partly to its having been connected with Armut; but while in the latter -ut is properly a suffix, OHG. deomuoti, f., is a compound. The second component is a deriv. of OHG. muot (see Mut); OHG. dio, however, is Goth. þius (stem þiwa-; comp. dienen, Dirne, and also Degen), ‘hind, servant’; Demut is ‘the befitting quality of a servant, the disposition of the attendant.’ Neither the word nor the idea is OTeut. (the Goth. said hauneins, ‘abasement, baseness,’ for Demut); both were introduced by Christianity.

dengeln, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. tęngeln, ‘to sharpen by hammering, beat, hammer’; the ModHG. d points, as in the case of Deich, to a LG. influence; comp. AS. dęncgan, ‘to knock, ding,’ E. to ding. Akin to OHG. tangol, ‘hammer’; Goth. *diggwan, ‘to strike,’ indicated also by OSwed. diunga, ModSwed. dänga, is not recorded.

denken, vb., ‘to think, call to mind, conceive, believe,’ from MidHG. dęnken, OHG. dęnchen, ‘to think, bear in mind, devise, excogitate’; corresponds to Goth. þagkjan (þankjan), ‘to consider, ponder, reflect,’ AS. þęncan. E. to think, is an

intermediate form between AS. þęncan, ‘to think,’ and þyncan, ‘to seem.’ Denken is in form a factitive of dünken, which was originally a str. vb., meaning ‘to seem’; ‘to make a thing seem’ is ‘to consider, ponder.’ See dünken.

denn, conj., ‘for,’ from MidHG. danne, dęnne, OHG. danne, danna; identical with dann.

der, art., ‘the,’ formed from the OHG. and MidHG. demonstr. and relat. stem dë-; comp. Goth. þa-, Gr. το-, OInd. ta-. The details belong to grammar.

derb, adj., ‘compact, stout, blunt, uncouth,’ derived in form from MidHG. dërp (b), ‘unleavened,’ but blended in meaning with a word derbe, derb, ‘worthy, honest’ (see bieder), deduced from OHG. and MidHG. bidérbe. MidHG. dërp, OHG. dërb, ‘unleavened,’ are equiv to OIc. þjarfr, AS. þeorf, E. therf. Bieder is related to bedürfen, but derb, ‘unleavened,’ on account of its meaning, cannot belong to the same stem; it is connected rather with the root verderben.

desto, adv., ‘so much the,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dëste, dëst, late OHG. dësde; in an earlier form two words, dës diu (dës, gen., diu, instr. of the art.); the Goth. word was simply þê (instr. of the art.); thus, too, AS. þŷ before comparatives, E. the (the more, desto mehr).

Deube, see Dieb.

Deut, f., ‘doit, trifle,’ simply ModHG., from Du. duit, ‘smallest coin’ (whence also E. doit); the latter is of Scand. origin; OIc. þveit, ‘a small coin’ (from þvíta, ‘to cut’).

deuten, vb., ‘to point, beckon, interpret, explain,’ from MidHG. diuken, tiuten, OHG. diuten, vb., ‘to show, point, signify, notify, explain, translate’; Goth. *þiudjan; comp. OIc. þýða. In place of þiudjan, Goth. has a form þiuþjan, ‘to praise, laud,’ which, however, is scarcely identical with deuten. Probably the latter signifies rather ‘to make popular’; þiuda is the Goth. word for ‘nation’ (see deutsch. Comp. MidHG. ze diute, ‘distinct, evident,’ and ‘in German’ (diute, dat. sing. of diuti, tiute, f., ‘exposition, explanation’); note too AS. geþeóde, ‘language’ (as the main characteristic of the nation).

deutsch, adj., ‘German,’ from the equiv. MidHG. diutsch, tiutsch; the initial d of the ModHG. and MidHG. words is MidG., the earlier form, teutsch (MidHG. tiutsch), is UpGer., and was, especially by the Up-