Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/437

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Zwinge, f., ‘vice, clamp, holdfast,’ lit. that which encloses or presses together; corresponding to the equiv. Dan. tvinge. —

Zwinger, m., ‘fortified castle, prison, narrow space, wild beast’s cage, arena,’ from MidHG. twingœre, m., ‘oppressor, space between the walls and ditch of a citadel, promurale, fortress.’ Comp. Dan. twinger, ‘prison, wild beast's cage’ (Du. dwinger, ‘despot, tyrant’).

zwinken, zwinkern, vb., ‘to wink, twinkle,’ from MidHG. zwinken, zwingen, ‘to blink, twinkle’; also in MidHG. zwinzen (from *zwingezen) and zwinzern. Corresponding to AS. twinclian, E. to twinkle.

zwirbeln, vb., ‘to twirl,’ from MidHG. zwirbeln, zwirben, ‘to move in a circle, whirl’ (zwirbel, m., ‘in circular motion,’ zwirbelwint, ‘whirlwind’), Allied to OHG. zęrben (*zarbjan), ‘to turn round,’ AS. tearflian, ‘to roll’?. Undoubted cognates in the non-Teut. languages are wanting.

Zwirn, m., ‘thread, twine, twisted yarn,’ from MidHG. zwirn, m., ‘double thread’; like AS. twîn, E. twine, Du. twijn (Dan. tvinde, ‘twine wheel’), it points to a base twizna-. A Teut. root twis appears also by a different derivation in E. twist. —

zwirnen, vb., ‘to twist, twine, throw (silk),’ a denominative, from MidHG. zwirnen, OHG. zwirnén, -nôn, ‘to twist a double thread, twine’; comp. Du. tweernen, E. to twine, and the equiv. Dan. tvinde.

zwiſchen, adv. and afterwards prep., ‘between, among,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zwischen, zwüschen, adv. and prep. Orig. a shortened form of the adverb. expressions MidHG. inzwischen, under zwischen, OHG. in zwiskên, untar zwiskên, ‘between each pair.’ Allied to MidHG. zwisc, zwisch, adj., OHG. zwisk, zwiski, adj., ‘twofold, two and two’; comp. OSax. twisk, Du.

tusschen, E. betwixt.—Derivatives ModHG. dazwischen, inzwischen.

Zwiſt, m., ‘dissension, quarrel; twist,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zwist, m.; properly a LG. word which has passed into HG. Comp. LG. and Du. twist, ‘quarrel,’ also Du. and E. twist, Dan. twist, ‘twisted stuff, MidE. twist, ‘branch’ (twisten, ‘to plait’), Oc. tvistr, ‘sad, disunited,’ Ic. tvistra, ‘to dissever.’ The Aryan root dwis, on which these words are based, appears in Sans. as dviš, ‘to hate,’ with a signification that resembles ModHG. Zwiſt; it may have been ‘to be at variance, disunited.’ Perhaps Lat. bellum, duellum, ‘war, from the base *dwerlo-, equiv. to *dwislo-?, is also connected with this word.

zwitſchern, vb., ‘to twitter, chirp, warble,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zwitzern, OHG. zwizzirôn; comp. MidE. twiteren, E. twitter (Dan. qviddre). An onomatopoetic form.

Zwitter (earlier ModHG. Zwiedorn), m., ‘mongrel, hermaphrodite, hybrid,’ from MidHG. zwitar, zwëtorn, zwidorn, m., ‘hermaphrodite, bastard, half-caste,’ OHG. zwitarn, zwitaran, m., ‘nothus, hybris.’ A derivative of zwi-, ‘duplex’ (see zwie-); comp. ModHG. dial. Zwister, ‘hermaphrodite.’ Different forms occur in OIc. (tvítóla) and Dan. (tvetulle, ‘hermaphrodite’).

zwölf, num., ‘twelve,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zwęlf, zwęlif, OHG. zwęlif. A common Teut. num.; corresponding to OSax. twęlif, Du. twaalf, AS. twęlf, E. twelve, Goth. twalif, OIc. tolf, Dan. tolv, Swed. tolf. It is a compound of Teut. twa- (HG. zwei), with the component -lif, which appears also in elf (Goth. ain-lif). In the allied Aryan languages a corresponding form occurs only in Lith. twylika, ‘twelve,’ vënolika, ‘eleven’). For the signification of the second component, Teut. -lif, Lith. -lika, see elf.