An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/dünn

by Friedrich Kluge

dünn, adj., ‘thin, slender, attenuated,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dünne, OHG. dunni; comp. AS. þynne, E. thin, OIc. þunnr, Du. dun, Goth. *þunnus. The adj. retained the primit. meaning ‘thin’ in all the periods and dialects of Teut. The stem þunnu is preserved in OHG. dunwęngi, AS. þunwenge, OIc. þunnvange, ‘temples,’ prop. ‘thin cheek’ (comp. ModHG. dial. Duninge, Dünege, ‘temples’). The adj. is primit. Aryan, in the form tanú-s (respecting Teut. nn comp. Kinn, Mann); comp. OInd. tanú-s, ‘long, drawn out, narrow, thin’; Lat. tenuis, ‘thin, narrow’; Gr. τανυ-, existing only in compounds, denotes ‘drawn or stretched out, long’; comp. ταναός, which has the same meaning; OSlov. tĭnŭkŭ, ‘thin,’ has a suffix. The idea of attenuation comes from ‘extension in one direction, drawn out lengthwise,’ still retained by the Ind. and the Gr. adjs. Lat., Teut., and Slav. deprived the orig. meaning of one of its characteristics. In OInd. and Gr. there occurs a verbal stem, tanu (τανυ), with the primary sense ‘to stretch out, extend.’ Comp. dehnen, Dohne, Donner, and the following word.