An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/deuten

by Friedrich Kluge

deuten, vb., ‘to point, beckon, interpret, explain,’ from MidHG. diuken, tiuten, OHG. diuten, vb., ‘to show, point, signify, notify, explain, translate’; Goth. *þiudjan; comp. OIc. þýða. In place of þiudjan, Goth. has a form þiuþjan, ‘to praise, laud,’ which, however, is scarcely identical with deuten. Probably the latter signifies rather ‘to make popular’; þiuda is the Goth. word for ‘nation’ (see deutsch. Comp. MidHG. ze diute, ‘distinct, evident,’ and ‘in German’ (diute, dat. sing. of diuti, tiute, f., ‘exposition, explanation’); note too AS. geþeóde, ‘language’ (as the main characteristic of the nation).