An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/dienen

by Friedrich Kluge

dienen, verb, ‘to serve, attend upon, be of use to,’ from the equivalent Middle High German dienen, Old High German dionôn (Old Saxon thionôn); compare Dutch dienen, Gothic *þiunôn. The latter is formed in the same way as reikinôn, ‘to rule,’ from reiks, ‘ruler,’ fraujinôn, ‘to be master of,’ from frauja, ‘master’; that is to say, dienen is based upon Gothic þius (stem þiwa-), ‘servant, menial.’ Compare Anglo-Saxon þeów, ‘servant,’ Old High German deo, ‘menial’ (compare Demut); also a feminine form, Gothic þiwi, Old High German and Middle High German diu, ‘maid-servant'; another similar old feminine form is Modern High German Dirne. The corresponding abstract — Dienst, Middle High German dienest, masculine, neuter, Old High German dionôst, neuter (compare Old Saxon thionost, neuter), is worth noting from the grammatical point of view on account of the suffix st (compare Angst, also Anglo-Saxon ofost, ‘haste,’ with the same suffix). From Gothic fraujinassus, ‘rule,’ þiudinassus, ‘reign,’ we should have expected Gothic þiunassus, ‘the state of a servant, service,’ that is to say, the German suffix -niss for nest. Moreover, before the w of Gothic þiwa- a g may have disappeared (compare Aue, Niere), so that the Teutonic root was possibly þegw; in that case the Old Teutonic þegnoz, ‘sword’ (Gothic *þigns), would belong to the same stem as dienen and Degen.