Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/128

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‘to ferment, foam,’ and the corresponding factitive MidHG. *jern (unrecorded, but OHG. jęrian occurs), ‘to cause to ferment’; OHG. jësan is a str. vb., and jęrjan a wk. vb. (comp. ginësan str. vb., and ginęrian, wk. vb.). Noun derivatives of the Teut. root jes retain their s (before t) even as late as ModHG.; see Gischt, under which the cognate nouns from the other OTeut. dialects are brought together. The root jes, yes, occurs also in Ind. and Gr.; comp. Gr. ζεσ-τός, ‘boiled,’ ζέσ-μα, hence also ζέω for *ζέσω (perf. ξεσ-μαὸ), ‘to boil, bubble’ (ζ for earlier j, y as in ζυγόν, see Joch), Sans. root yas, ‘to seethe, boil.’ Considering this agreement of forms with initial j and y, ModHG. gären with g is remarkable; so too OIc. gerþ, ‘yeast’ (but E. yeast).

Garn, n., ‘yarn, thread, net, snare,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. garn; corresponding to AS. gearn, E. yarn, OIc. garn, n., Du. garen; the common Teut. term for ‘yarn’ (Goth. *garn, n.); the meaning ‘net’ was attached to Garn, even in the OHG. and MidHG. period, but it never obtained in E. and Scand. We might assume a root gar with some such meaning as ‘to turn,’ but it is not authenticated. Earlier Teut. has a series of terms corresponding in sound with Garn and meaning ‘entrails’; comp. OIc. gǫrn (plur. garner), f., ‘gut, intestines, entrails,’ OHG. mittigarni, mittilagarni, n., ‘fat found in the middle of the entrails, arvina,’ AS. micgern (cg for dg; comp. AS. orceard, E. orchard, for ortgeard), ‘arvina’ These words have been connected with Lith. żarnà, f., ‘gut,’ and Sans. hirâ, f., ‘gut,’ though the latter may be allied to Lat. hîra, f., ‘gut,’ and hilla for hirla; likewise Lat. haru- in haru-spex, ‘one who examines the entrails, soothsayer,’ and hariolus, ‘soothsayer,’ contain the Aryan root ghar. Perhaps — and nothing further can be sail — all the words discussed above are based on a Teut. root ghar, ‘to turn.’

garstig, adj., ‘filthy, foul, obscene,’ an extended form of the late MidHG. garst, adj., ‘rancid, tasting “high”’; comp. Du. garstig, ‘insipid, rank, rotten’; akin to OIc. gerstr, ‘morose’ (in appearance). Allied to Lat. fastidium, ‘disgust, aversion’?. The latter probably represented *farstidium, like tostus for *torstus, from torreo; Lat. f initially corresponds to Teut. g. See under Galle (Lat. fel). But it might perhaps be also connected with Lat. horridus for *ghorsidus.

Garten, m., from the equiv. MidHG. garte, OHG. garto, m., ‘garden’; corresponding to OSax. gardo, OFris. garda, m., ‘garden’; Goth. garda, m., ‘stable.’ Akin to the strong nouns — Goth. gards, m., ‘court, house, family’; OIc. garðr, m., ‘enclosure, hedge, house, farm,’ OHG. gart, m., ‘circle, choral dance,’ AS. geard (E. yard), ‘enclosure, garden’ (E. garden was borrowed in MidE. from OFr. gardin, jardin, which is of Ger. origin). ‘Enclosing,’ and ‘the enclosed space’ are the fundamental ideas of the whole class, which might thus be connected with gürten, Teut. root gerd, if the correspondences in the cognate languages did not prove that ‘Garten’ is a pre-Teut., perhaps a common West Aryan form, which cannot belong to a specifically Teut. root. But HG. Garten is most closely connected with Lat. hortus, ‘garden,’ Gr. χόρτος, ‘enclosure, yard, farmyard, pasture, hay, grass,’ OIr. gort, ‘cornfield,’ also Lat. co-hors, -tis, f., ‘courtyard for cattle and fowls’; if the Teut. word is allied to these, the d of the Goth. and Sax. words is derived from Aryan t, i.e. Goth. garda is based on Aryan ghortó- (not ghórto- from χόρτο-). On the other hand, Garten may be connected with Slav. and Lith. words, which, however, assume that Goth. and Sax. d originated in Aryan dh; OSluv. gradŭ, m., ‘enclosure, citadel, town’ (as an enclosed place; Lith. gàrdas, ‘fold’). It is possible that in the Teut. class two words, different in sound but allied in meaning, have been combined; but the Slav. words were more probably borrowed from Teut. Comp. Zaun.

Gas, n., ‘gas,’ a word coined by the Du. chemist, Von Helmont, of Brussels (died 1644 A.D.); comp. Du. gas.

Gasse, f., ‘lane, road, row,’ from MidHG. gaȥȥe, OHG. gaȥȥa, f., prop. (as even yet in UpG.) ‘street’; corresponding to Goth. gatwô, f., ‘lane, street,’ OIc. gata (accus. gǫtu), ‘way, street, path.’ From the Scand. word E. gate, ‘way,’ is derived. Properly speaking, the word is unknown to the LG. languages. Whether Gasse is allied to AS. geat, E. (Scotch), gate, gait (see Gatter), OSax. and Du. gat, n., ‘hole, cavern,’ OIc. gat, n., ‘hole,’ and is derived from a prim. meaning, ‘inlet, opening’ — Gasse, lit. ‘furnished with an entrance, a gate,’ on account of the suffix -wân? — cannot be definitely decided; in any case, it is impossible to connect Gasse with gehen, since