An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zweifel

by Friedrich Kluge

Zweifel, masculine, ‘doubt, uncertainty,’ from Middle High German zwîvel, masculine, ‘uncertainty, distrust, fickleness, perfidy, despair,’ Old High German zwîfal, masculine, ‘uncertainty, apprehension, despair,’ Compare Gothic tweifls, masculine, ‘doubt,’ Old Saxon twîfal, Dutch twijfel. The following forms also occur, Old High German zwîfo, zwëho, masculine, ‘doubt’ (equivalent to Old Saxon twëho, Anglo-Saxon tweó, ‘doubt’), and Old Icelandic týja (base twiwjôn), ‘doubt.’ All are based on a pre-Teutonic dweiq (dwī̆p), ‘to doubt.’ — Allied to zweifeln, verb, ‘to doubt, suspect,’ from Middle High German zwîvelen, Old High German zwîfalôn, ‘to waver, doubt’; compare Old Saxon twîflôn, ‘to waver,’ Danish tvivle, Dutch twijfelen, ‘to doubt.’ These cognates are unquestionably connected with zwei (compare Greek δοιή, ‘doubt,’ Sanscrit dvayá, ‘falseness’); the formation of the noun is, however, not clear (see Zweig and zwie-).