An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Gerste

by Friedrich Kluge

Gerste, feminine, ‘barley,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gërste, Old High German gërsta, feminine; akin to Dutch gerst; a specifically German word, unknown to the other dialects; Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon grîst, English grist, are not connected with it, but with Old Teutonic grindan, ‘to grind’ (equivalent to Latin frendere, ‘to gnash’?). In the remaining Teutonic dialects the terms for Gerste are Gothic baris, Old Icelandic bygg (and barr), Anglo-Saxon bęre, English barley. Old High German gërsta, from pre-Teutonic ghérzdâ-, corresponds only to the equivalent Latin hordeum (from *horsdeum, primary form *ghṛzdéyo-); Greek κριθή, ‘barley,’ is scarcely a cognate. From an Aryan root ghrs, ‘to stiffen’ (Latin horrere for *horsere, Sanscrit hṛš, ‘to bristle up’), some have inferred Gerste to mean originally ‘the prickly plant’ (on account of the prickly ears).