An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Tier

by Friedrich Kluge

Tier, neuter, ‘animal, beast, brute,’ from Middle High German tier, Old High German tior, neuter, ‘animal,’ especially ‘wild beast’ (hence Modern High German Tiergarten); corresponding to Old Saxon dior, ‘wild east,’ Dutch dier, ‘animal,’ Anglo-Saxon deór, English deer (in Middle High German also, as well as in the language of sportsmen in Modern High German, tier is often used in the sense of ‘roe’ and ‘hind’), Old Icelandic dýr, neuter, ‘animal,’ especially ‘wild beast,’ and also ‘roe, stag.’ Gothic dius, ‘wild beast,’ shows that the r of the words quoted are based upon Aryan s (base dheuso-?); to this the Anglo-Saxon adjective deór, ‘bold,’ and Old High German tiorlîh, ‘wild,’ are traced; hence Gothic dius, ‘animal,’ is probably an adjective used as a substantive (literally ‘the wild creature’). Tier, therefore, was originally quite distinct from Vieh, ‘useful gregarious animal.’ Latin animal with anima suggests the supposition that the cognates belong to an Aryan root dhus, ‘to breathe’ (compare Old Slovenian duša, duchŭ, ‘spirit, soul’).