An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Nachtigall

by Friedrich Kluge

Nachtigall, feminine, ‘nightingale,’ from the equivalent Middle High German nahtegal, Old High German nahte-gala, feminine; a term common to the West Teutonic languages for ‘luscinia,’ properly ‘singer in the night’ (allied to Old Teutonic galan, ‘to sing’); Old Saxon nahtigala, Dutch nachtegaal, Anglo-Saxon nihtegale, English nightingale.