Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/133

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Geige, f., ‘fiddle, violin,’ from the equiv. early MidHG. gîge, f.; corresponding to MidDu. ghighe, OIc. gígja; in OHG. fidula, E. fiddle; see Fiedel. The Teut. word, like Harfe, found its way into Rom.; comp. Ital. giga, Fr. gigue (whence further E. jig). There is no suspicion that MidHG. gîge was borrowed; it is, however, scarcely allied primit. (pre-Teut. ghîkă) to OSlov. žica, ‘thread’ (akin to Lith. gijá, ‘thread’?).

geil, adj., ‘rank, wanton, obscene, lewd,’ from MidHG. and OHG. geil, ‘of savage strength, wanton, exuberant, merry, joyous’; for the change of meaning on the transition from MidHG. to ModHG. comp. Schimpf. The primary meaning. ‘unrestrained, joyous,’ follows from Goth. gailjan, ‘to rejoice’; comp. OSax. gêl, Du. geil, AS. gâl. To the Teut. cognates Lith. gailùs, ‘passionate, furious, sharp, painful, sympathetic,’ and gailěti-s, ‘to injure’; OSlov. zělu (from gailo), ‘violent,’ adv. zėlo, ‘very’ In the compound Biebergeil appears the MidHG. noun geil, geile, ‘testicle.’

Geisel (1.), m. and f., ‘hostage,’ from MidHG. gisel, OHG. gisal, m., n., ‘prisoner of war, person held in security’; corresponding to AS. gîsel, OIc. gîsl, m. To connect it with Geisel (2.), f., as if ‘hostage’ were lit. ‘one who is scourged,’ is impossible. It is, probably, most closely allied to the equiv. OIr. giall (for *gísal).

Geisel (2.) f., ‘scourge, whip,’ from the equiv. MidHG. geisel), OHG. geisala, geisla, f.; akin to OIc. geisl, geisle, m., ‘pole used by persons walking in snow-shoes.’ The stem gais- is connected with the OTeut. term gaiza-, ‘spear’ (see Ger). Hence ‘pole, staff,’ must be accepted as the prim. meaning; the second component is Goth. walus, ‘staff,’ so that OHG. geis-ala stands for *geis-wala, just as OHG. wurzala for AS. wyrt-walu (see under Wurzel).

Geist, m., ‘spirit, genius, spectre,’ from MidHG. and OHG. geist, m., ‘spirit (in contrast to body), supernatural being’; corresponding to OSax. gêst, Du. geist, AS. gâst (gœ̂st), E. ghost; common to Teut. in the same sense, but in Goth. ahma (see achten). The prim. meaning of the word (‘agitation’?) is not quite certain; yet Ic. geisa, ‘to rage’ (of fire, passion), and Goth. us-gaisjan, ‘to enrage,’ seem to be allied. Respecting the dental suffix of the Teut. Geist (pre-Teut. ghaisdos), note

the Sans. root hîḍ (from hizd), ‘to get angry,’ hêḍas, n., ‘anger,’ to which E. aghast also corresponds.

Geiß, f., ‘goat, roe,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. geiȥ, f,; corresponding to Goth. gaits, OIc. geit, AS. gât, E. goat, Du. geit; also a dimin. Goth. gaitein, AS. gœ̂ten, OHG. geizzîn, n., ‘kid’ (see Schwein). Primit. allied to Lat. haedus from older ghaido-s (see Ritze and Ziege). In common with Slav., OTeut. has a different word for Ziege; comp. MidDu. hoekijn, AS. hêcen, ‘kid,’ akin to OSlov. koza, ‘goat.’

Geiz, m., ‘avarice,’ allied to geizen, MidHG. gîtsen (gîzen), beside which MidHG. gîten, ‘to be greedy, covetous, or avaricious’ occurs; comp. AS. gîtsian, ‘to be covetous.’ The term for Geiz in MidHG. and OHG. was gît, ‘greediness, covetousness, avarice,’ for geizig, MidHG. gîtec, OHG. gîtag, ‘greedy, covetous, avaricious’; respecting the derivation of Geiz from geizen, see Ärger, handeln. Akin to Goth. gaidw, n., ‘want.’ With the Teut. root gaid, gī̆d (Aryan ghaidh), are connected Lith. geidżiù (geísti), ‘to desire,’ OSlov. židą, žĭdati, ‘to expect.’

Gekröse, n., ‘giblets; frill, ruffle,’ from MidHG. gekrœse, n., ‘the small intestine,’ also the variant krœse, OHG. *chrôsi; akin to Du. kroes, kroost, ‘giblets of ducks and geese.’ All the cognates are probably connected with kraus.

Gelage, n., ‘feast, banquet, drinking bout,’ first occurs in early ModHG., allied to legen. Scarcely derived from the ancient Gelage (banquets); but just as Goth. gabaur is lit. ‘that which is laid together,’ and then ‘picnic, feasting’ (from baíran, ‘to carry,’ see Bahre), so Gelage is lit. ‘that which is laid together,’ and then ‘feasting’; comp. zechen.

Geländer, n. ‘railing, banister, from the equiv. late MidHG. gelender (15th cent.), allied to MidHG. lander, ‘stake, fence,’ which may be regarded as a nasalised variant of Latte (Teut. laþ-).

Gelaß, m. and n., ‘relics, heritage,’ from MidHG. gelœȥe, n., ‘settlement, mode of settlement,’ allied to gelâȥen, ‘to settle.’

gelb, adj., ‘yellow,’ from the equiv. MidHG. gël, OHG. gëlo (gen. gëlwes); corresponding to OSax. gëlo, Du. geel, AS. geolo, E. yellow (OIc. gulr). The common West Teut. gelwa-, from pre-Teut. ghelwo-, is primit. allied to Lat. helvus, ‘greyish yellow’; the Aryan root ghel appears also in