An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Dorn

by Friedrich Kluge

Dorn, masculine, ‘thorn, prickle,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German dorn, masculine; corresponds to Gothic þaurnus, Old Icelandic þorn, Anglo-Saxon þorn, English thorn, Dutch doorn, Old Saxon thorn, ‘thorn’; from pre-Teutonic trnu-. Compare Old Slavonic trŭnŭ, ‘thorn,’ Sanscrit tṛna, ‘blade of grass.’