An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gediegen

by Friedrich Kluge

gediegen, adjective, ‘solid, pure, concise, pithy,’ from Middle High German gedigen, adjective, ‘adult, firm, hard, clear, pure,’ Old High German gidigan, adjective, ‘aged, advanced in years, earnest, pure, chaste’; properly a participle of gidihan (g by a grammatical change is the necessary form of h in the participle); Anglo-Saxon preserves the older participial form of the e-gradation, geþungen, ‘complete,’ so too Old Saxon thungan.