An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/garstig

by Friedrich Kluge

garstig, adjective, ‘filthy, foul, obscene,’ an extended form of the late Middle High German garst, adjective, ‘rancid, tasting “high”’; compare Dutch garstig, ‘insipid, rank, rotten’; akin to Old Icelandic gerstr, ‘morose’ (in appearance). Allied to Latin fastidium, ‘disgust, aversion’?. The latter probably represented *farstidium, like tostus for *torstus, from torreo; Latin f initially corresponds to Teutonic g. See under Galle (Latin fel). But it might perhaps be also connected with Latin horridus for *ghorsidus.