An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Dunst

by Friedrich Kluge

Dunst, masculine, ‘vapour, fume, mist,’ from Middle High German dunst, tunst, masculine, feminine, ‘steam, vapour,’ Old High German tunist, dunist, dunst, ‘storm, breath’; respecting the Middle German initial d. compare Dust, dunkel. Corresponds to Anglo-Saxon dûst (for *dunst), English dust. Teutonic duns-, for dwuns-, is based upon an Aryan root dhwens, which still appears in Sanscrit dhvans, ‘to fall to dust’ (dhvasti, ‘falling to dust’).