An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gestern

by Friedrich Kluge

gestern, adverb, ‘yesterday,’ from the equivalent Middle High German gëstern (gëster), Old High German gëstaron (gëstre), adverb; also, with a divergent meaning, Old High German êgëstern, ‘the day after to-morrow’ (and ‘the day before yesterday’); corresponding to Gothic gistradagis, ‘to-morrow,’ Old Icelandic ìgœr, ‘to-morrow, yesterday.’ It is evident that the primary word was used in the double sense of ‘to-morrow’ and ‘yesterday’ (literally ‘on the second day from this’); compare also Anglo-Saxon geostra, gistrandœg, English yesterday, Dutch gisteren, ‘yesterday.’ The form and the idea are Aryan; compare Sanscrit hyás, ‘yesterday,’ Greek χθές, Latin heri (for hjiesi?); ghyés is the primitive form, whence with the suffix tro-, ghistro-, ghyestro- (Gothic gistra). For heute, ‘to-day,’ and morgen, ‘to-morrow’ (Latin cras, Sanscrit çrás), an equally diffused form is wanting.