An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Linde

by Friedrich Kluge

Linde, feminine, ‘linden, lime-tree,’ from the equivalent Middle High German linde, Old High German linta, feminine; corresponding to Dutch linde, Anglo-Saxon lind, feminine English lind, linden, linden-tree (English lime-tree = ‘linden’ is obscure); Old Icelandic lind, feminine, ‘lime-tree’; a common Teutonic term for ‘linden,’ also, as an Old Teutonic warlike term, ‘shield,’ literally ‘linden shield,’ Its earlier history is obscure; Modern High German dialectic Lind, ‘bast,’ and Scandinavian linde, ‘girdle,’ derivatives of Linde, give no clue to the primary meaning of the word. If we consider the change in meaning to which names of trees have been subject (see under Buche, Eiche, and Tanne), we might assume that Linde is related to Greek ἐλάτη (from lentâ), ‘pine tree, white pine’; it can scarcely be connected with Latin lentus, ‘flexible’ (compare lind), as if the inner bark of the linden were used at an early period for cords.