An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Dung

by Friedrich Kluge

Dung, m., with LG. initial d; ‘dung, manure,’ from MidHG. tunge, f., ‘dung, manuring’; MidHG. tunc, m., f., signifies ‘an underground — prop. dung-covered — chamber occupied in winter,’ and especially ‘the underground weaver's room’; OHG. tunga, ‘manuring,’ E. dung (subst. and vb.); OHG. tunc, ‘weaver's room underground’ (Dünger from late MidHG. tunger). This double meaning of the cognates is explained by the remarks of Tacitus (Germanía, § 16) and Pliny (Hist. Nat., 19, 1). ‘Dung’ is the primary sense of the cognates of Dung and düngen; in the other Aryan languages, however, no primit. cognates can be adduced.