Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/78

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dili, m. (neut.?), dilla, f., with the same meaning. Originally Teut. þeloz, þiliz, n., ‘board,’ was þiljôn, ‘made of boards’; comp. AS. þël, ‘board,’ OIc. þilja, ‘rowing seat’ (Finn. teljo ‘ship's beam, oar-bench,’ comes from Teut.). Comp. further Du. deel, ‘board, floor,’ MidLG. dêle, ‘board.’ Lith. tile, ‘plank of a boat,’ OSlov. tĭlo, ‘ground,’ Sans. tala-m, ‘surface,’ seem to be primit. allied; also Lat. tellus, ‘earth’?.

dienen, vb., ‘to serve, attend upon, be of use to,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dienen, OHG. dionôn (OSax. thionôn); comp. Du. dienen, Goth. *þiunôn. The latter is formed in the same way as reikinôn, ‘to rule,’ from reiks, ‘ruler,’ fraujinôn, ‘to be master of,’ from frauja, ‘master’; that is to say, dienen is based upon Goth. þius (stem þiwa-), ‘servant, menial.’ Comp. AS. þeów, ‘servant,’ OHG. deo, ‘menial’ (comp. Demut); also a fem. form, Goth. þiwi, OHG. and MidHG. diu, ‘maid-servant'; another similar old fem. form is ModHG. Dirne. The corresponding abstract — Dienst, MidHG. dienest, m., n., OHG. dionôst, n. (comp. OSax. thionost, n.), is worth noting from the grammatical point of view on account of the suffix st (comp. Angst, also AS. ofost, ‘haste,’ with the same suffix). From Goth. fraujinassus, ‘rule,’ þiudinassus, ‘reign,’ we should have expected Goth. þiunassus, ‘the state of a servant, service,’ that is to say, the Germ. suffix -niss for nest. Moreover, before the w of Goth. þiwa- a g may have disappeared (comp. Aue, Niere), so that the Teut. root was possibly þegw; in that case the OTeut. þegnoz, ‘sword’ (Goth. *þigns), would belong to the same stem as dienen and Degen.

Dienstag, m., ‘Tuesday,’ a West Teut. word, which has quite as important a bearing upon the religious views of the Teutons as Ostern. Originally there were three names for the day. One contains in the first component of the compound the name of the OTeut. god Tiu, to whom the day was sacred; OIc. Týsdagr, AS. Tîwesdœg, E. Tuesday, preserve this name in the gen. (comp. Goth. baurgswaddjus, just as if Burgsmauer were used for Burgmauer; see Nachtigall). OHG. Zio (OIc. Týr) is a primit. deity whose worship the Teutons brought with them from their Asiatic home; it is identical with Gr. Ζεύς (for δjεύς), gen. Διός (for διϝός, hence corresponding to Goth. *Tius-dags); Lat. Jupiter, Jovis (for *djovis); Sans. Djâus, gen. Divás; orig. the word meant simply ‘sky,’ then the sky

personified as a god. Among the Teutons Tiu appears as a god of war; this change of meaning is explained by the supposition that Tiu, corresponding to the Greek Zeus, was at first regarded simply as the chief god, but was afterwards connected with the main occupation of our ancestors, i.e. war (see kühn). From Tiu, OHG. Zio, ‘Tuesday’ in OAlem. is termed (OHG.) Ziostac, (MidHG.) Ziestac (Ziestag in Hebel). Another appellation is the OBav. Ertac (Erchtag), instead of which, on the adoption of Christianity in the east of Suabia, the word aftermœntig, ‘after Monday,’ was introduced. In the Franc. and Sax. dialects the term dingestag has existed from time immemorial, and was at one time incorrectly thought to mean ‘court-day’ (see Ding). The latter word, however, is based rather on an attribute of the OTeut. Tiu, who in a Teut.-Lat. inscription is designated Mars Thingsus. Thinx is the Lomb. term for Ding, ‘assembly of the people,’ hence Thinxus, the god of the assemblies. Among the Sax., Fris., and Francon. tribes Tuesday was sacred to this god; comp. MidDu. dinxendach, MidLG. dingsedach, earlier ModHG. dingsdag.

dieser, pron., ‘this, the latter,’ from the equiv. MidHG. diser, OHG. disêr, earlier dësêr; corresponds to AS. þes, E. this. See the grammars for further details.

Dietrich, m., ‘false key’ (in UpGer. Nachschlüssel), occurs late in MidHG.; the age of the word and of its meaning is attested by the loan-word Swed. dyrk (Dan. dirk), which has the same signification, and is, like the ModHG. proper name Dierk, ‘Derry,’ a pet name from Dietrich, ‘Derrick.’ Similarly, instead of ‘Dietrich,’ Peterchen (Peterken), ‘Peterkin,’ and Klaus (Klöschen), ‘Nick,’ are used, probably because Peter, ‘Peter,’ like Dietrich, ‘Derrick,’ and Nikolaus, ‘Nicholas,’ are favourite Christian names, which might serve to veil (in thieves' slang?) the term ‘false key’ (comp. Ital. grimaldello) The word in MidHG. is miteslüȥȥel, OHG. aftersluȥȥil.

Dill, m., ‘dill.’ In ModHG. the LG. form is current, just as in the case of Hafer. MidHG. tille, f., m., is used of the same umbelliferous plant (anethum), OHG. tilli, n.; comp. AS. dile, E. dill; of obscure origin.

Ding, n., ‘thing, matter, transaction,’ from MidHG. and OHG. dinc(g), n., ‘thing, matter,’ prop. ‘judicial proceeding, court--