An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/dienen

by Friedrich Kluge

dienen, vb., ‘to serve, attend upon, be of use to,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dienen, OHG. dionôn (OSax. thionôn); comp. Du. dienen, Goth. *þiunôn. The latter is formed in the same way as reikinôn, ‘to rule,’ from reiks, ‘ruler,’ fraujinôn, ‘to be master of,’ from frauja, ‘master’; that is to say, dienen is based upon Goth. þius (stem þiwa-), ‘servant, menial.’ Comp. AS. þeów, ‘servant,’ OHG. deo, ‘menial’ (comp. Demut); also a fem. form, Goth. þiwi, OHG. and MidHG. diu, ‘maid-servant'; another similar old fem. form is ModHG. Dirne. The corresponding abstract — Dienst, MidHG. dienest, m., n., OHG. dionôst, n. (comp. OSax. thionost, n.), is worth noting from the grammatical point of view on account of the suffix st (comp. Angst, also AS. ofost, ‘haste,’ with the same suffix). From Goth. fraujinassus, ‘rule,’ þiudinassus, ‘reign,’ we should have expected Goth. þiunassus, ‘the state of a servant, service,’ that is to say, the Germ. suffix -niss for nest. Moreover, before the w of Goth. þiwa- a g may have disappeared (comp. Aue, Niere), so that the Teut. root was possibly þegw; in that case the OTeut. þegnoz, ‘sword’ (Goth. *þigns), would belong to the same stem as dienen and Degen.