An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zorn

by Friedrich Kluge

Zorn, masculine, ‘anger, wrath, passion,’ from Middle High German zorn, masculine, Old High German zorn, neuter, ‘violent indignation, fury, insult, dispute’; corresponding to Old Saxon torn, neuter, ‘indignation,’ Anglo-Saxon torn, neuter, ‘anger, insult,’ Dutch toorn, masculine, ‘anger’ (torn, ‘push, fight’); in Gothic by chance not recorded. It is an old participle in no- from the root tar, ‘to tear’ (Gothic ga-tairan, Old High German zëran, ‘to tear to pieces, destroy’); hence Zorn meant literally ‘ending of the mind’?. Yet note Lithuanian durnas, ‘mad, angry, insufferable,’ and durnůti, ‘to rage.’