Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/86

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‘an underground — prop. dung-covered — chamber occupied in winter,’ and especially ‘the underground weaver's room’; OHG. tunga, ‘manuring,’ E. dung (subst. and vb.); OHG. tunc, ‘weaver's room underground’ (Dünger from late MidHG. tunger). This double meaning of the cognates is explained by the remarks of Tacitus (Germanía, § 16) and Pliny (Hist. Nat., 19, 1). ‘Dung’ is the primary sense of the cognates of Dung and düngen; in the other Aryan languages, however, no primit. cognates can be adduced.

dunkel, adj., ‘dark, gloomy, obscure,’ with MidG. initial d; from MidHG. tunkel, ‘dark, dull, damp,’ OHG. tunchal (with the parallel form tunchar, MidLG. dunker). By another stage of gradation OIc. døkkr, OFris. djunk are formed from the same root; they presuppose a Goth. *diggs (pre-Teut. dhengwos). The primit. allied E. dank points to a connection with dumpf (Teut. root dinq, dump).

Dünkel, m., ‘fancy, imagination, arrogance, prejudice,’ simply ModHG. Related to the vb. dünken, from MidHG. dunken (pret. dûhte), ‘to seem, appear to,’ OHG. dunchan (chiefly impers. with dat.), ‘to seem’ (pret. dûhta); Goth. þugkjan, þûhta, mostly impers. with dat. ‘to seem’; AS. þyncan, E. to think, which, however, really represents the meanings of AS. þencan, OHG., MidHG. and ModHG. denken. Dünken appears to have been originally a str. vb., of which denken was perhaps the factitive form. The Teut. þunk, þank, is based upon an old Aryan root tng, teng, and this, again, appears in OLat. tongêre, ‘to know’ (comp. Prænest. tongitio, ‘notion’). Comp. denken, Dank.

dünn, adj., ‘thin, slender, attenuated,’ from the equiv. MidHG. dünne, OHG. dunni; comp. AS. þynne, E. thin, OIc. þunnr, Du. dun, Goth. *þunnus. The adj. retained the primit. meaning ‘thin’ in all the periods and dialects of Teut. The stem þunnu is preserved in OHG. dunwęngi, AS. þunwenge, OIc. þunnvange, ‘temples,’ prop. ‘thin cheek’ (comp. ModHG. dial. Duninge, Dünege, ‘temples’). The adj. is primit. Aryan, in the form tanú-s (respecting Teut. nn comp. Kinn, Mann); comp. OInd. tanú-s, ‘long, drawn out, narrow, thin’; Lat. tenuis, ‘thin, narrow’; Gr. τανυ-, existing only in compounds, denotes ‘drawn or stretched out, long’; comp. ταναός, which has the same

meaning; OSlov. tĭnŭkŭ, ‘thin,’ has a suffix. The idea of attenuation comes from ‘extension in one direction, drawn out lengthwise,’ still retained by the Ind. and the Gr. adjs. Lat., Teut., and Slav. deprived the orig. meaning of one of its characteristics. In OInd. and Gr. there occurs a verbal stem, tanu (τανυ), with the primary sense ‘to stretch out, extend.’ Comp. dehnen, Dohne, Donner, and the following word.

Dunst, m., ‘vapour, fume, mist,’ from MidHG. dunst, tunst, m., f., ‘steam, vapour,’ OHG. tunist, dunist, dunst, ‘storm, breath’; respecting the MidG. initial d. comp. Dust, dunkel. Corresponds to AS. dûst (for *dunst), E. dust. Teut. duns-, for dwuns-, is based upon an Aryan root dhwens, which still appears in Sans. dhvans, ‘to fall to dust’ (dhvasti, ‘falling to dust’).

durch, prep., ‘through, owing to, by,’ from MidHG. durch. dur, ‘through,’ also ‘for the sake of,’ OHG. duruh, durh; comp. OSax. thurh, AS. þurh, E. through and thorough. Goth. þaírh, ‘through,’ with an abnormal vowel, is related to the OHG. dërh, ‘perforated,’ with which are connected OHG. durhil, durihil, MidHG. dürhel, dürkel, ‘pierced, porous,’ AS. þŷrel (for þyrhil), ‘hole’ (comp. Nüster), as well as Goth. þaírkô, f., ‘hole’ (k, from kk, for kn?). The prepos. might easily be a case of an older adj., perhaps the acc. neut. Besides the passive meaning of OHG. dërh, ‘pierced,’ an active sense, ‘piercing,’ may also be added. The base þerh would be best defined by ‘to pierce, penetrate,’ which recalls the HG. dringen; the former is based upon a pre-Teut. root terk, the latter upon a root trenk. The connection with Lat. trans is exceedingly problematical.

Durchlaucht, ‘Serene Highness,’ simply ModHG. with MidG. vowel au; MidHG. and MidG. durchlûht, partic. for MidHG. durchliuhtet, ‘illustrious,’ from durhliuhten, ‘to shine, light through, illuminate.’ See Erlaucht, leuchten.

dürfen, anom. vb., ‘to be allowed, venture, need,’ from MidHG. dürfen, durfen, a preterite pres., ‘to have reason, cause, be permitted, need, require’; OHG. durfan, preterite pres., ‘to lack, be destitute of, require, be in need of’; comp. Goth. þaúrban, Du. durven, AS. þurfan, ‘to be in need of.’ In addition to the Teut. root þurf, þurb, Swiss points to an old parallel form þurp. In the ModHG. deriv. darben,