An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Ziel

by Friedrich Kluge

Ziel, neuter, ‘limit, aim, goal,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German zil, neuter. Allied to Gothic tils, gatils, ‘suitable, fit,’ and gatilôn, ‘to aim at, attain,’ Old High German zilôn, ‘to make haste,’ Anglo-Saxon tilian, ‘to be zealous, till' (English to till), Dutch telen, ‘to produce, create,’ Old Saxon tilian, ‘to attain.’ To the Gothic adjective tila-, ‘suitable,’ the Scandinavian preposition til (whence English till) belongs. Hence the primary meaning of the cognates is ‘that which is fixed, definite,’ so that it is possible to connect them with the Teutonic root tī̆ in Zeile and Zeit.