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Origin and history of dirndl

dirndl(n.)

style of women's dress imitating Alpine peasant costume, with bodice and full skirt, 1937 (from 1921 as a German word in articles on German fashion), from German dialectal diminutive of dirne "girl" (in dirndlkleid "peasant dress"), from a diminutive of Middle High German dierne "maid," from Old High German thiorna, which is related to Old English þegn (see thane). English in 14c. had therne "girl, maid, young woman" from the Old Norse cognate þerna.

also from 1937

Entries linking to dirndl

thane(n.)

Middle English thein, from Old English þegn "military follower, one who holds lands in exchange for military service," also "vassal, retainer, attendant," from Proto-Germanic *thegnas (source also of Old Saxon thegan "(free) follower, warrior; boy, youngling," Old Norse þegn "thane, freeman," Old High German thegan, German Degen "thane, warrior, hero").

This is reconstructed to be from PIE *tek-no- (source also of Sanskrit takman "descendant, child," Greek teknon "child; young animal, shoot"), from root *tek- "to beget, give birth to" (source also of Greek tekos "child, the young of animals," tokos "childbirth, offspring, produce of money, interest"). However, Beekes writes that the identification of the Greek and Germanic words is "not without problems" caused by phonetics.

Also used in Old English for "disciple of Christ." The specific sense of "man who ranks between an earl and a freeman" is late 15c.

The modern spelling is from Scottish, where early 13c. it came to mean "chief of a clan, king's baron," and it has predominated in English probably due to the influence of "Macbeth;" normal orthographic changes from Old English ðegn would have produced Modern English *thain. Some historians now use thegn to distinguish Anglo-Saxon thanes from Scottish thanes.

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    Trends of dirndl

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    frock
    mid-14c., from Old French froc "a monk's habit; clothing, dress" (12c.), which is of unknown origin; perhaps from Frankish *hrok or some other Germanic source (compare Old High German hroc "mantle, coat;" Old Norse rokkr, Old English rocc, Old Frisian rokk, German Rock "a coat, o
    dress
    c. 1300, "make straight; direct, guide, control; prepare for cooking," from Old French dresser, drecier "raise (oneself); address, prepare; lift, raise, hoist; set up, arrange, set (a table), serve (food); straighten, put right, direct," from Vulgar Latin *directiare "make straig
    sleuth
    late 12c., sloth, "track or trail of a person or beast," from Old Norse sloð "trail or track," as of a person in snow, a word of uncertain origin. The meaning "detective" is attested by 1872, a shortening of sleuth-hound "keen investigator" (1849), a figurative use of that word,
    reparation
    late 14c., reparacioun, "repair, act of mending" (a sense now rare or obsolete), also "amends, compensation, recompense, satisfaction for injury, what is done to repair a wrong," from Old French reparacion and directly from Late Latin reparationem (nominative reparatio) "act of r
    trim
    mid-15c., probably from Old English trymian, trymman "strengthen, fortify, confirm; comfort; incite; set in order, arrange, prepare, make ready; become strong," from trum "strong, stable," from Proto-Germanic *trum-, from PIE *dru-mo-, suffixed form of root *deru- "be firm, solid
    premium
    c. 1600, "reward given for a specific act or a particular line of conduct," from Latin praemium "reward, profit derived from booty," from prae "before" (see pre-) + emere "to buy," originally "to take" (from PIE root *em- "to take, distribute"). The sense of "amount to be paid by
    target
    c. 1300, "light shield," typically small and round, diminutive of late Old English targe and directly from Old French targete "light shield" (12c.), from Frankish or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *targ- (source also of Old High German zarga "edging, border," Ger
    gasoline
    "light, volatile liquid obtained from distillation of petroleum," 1864, a variant of gasolene (from 1863 in Britain), which apparently was a trade name at first, from gas (n.1) in its then-popular loose sense of "compound of gases used for illuminating and heating purposes;" the
    alien
    c. 1300, "strange, foreign," from Old French alien "strange, foreign;" as a noun, "an alien, stranger, foreigner," from Latin alienus "of or belonging to another, not one's own, foreign, strange," also, as a noun, "a stranger, foreigner," adjective from alius (adv.) "another, oth
    account
    c. 1300, "counting," especially "reckoning of money received and paid, detailed statement of funds owed or spent or property held," from Old French acont "(financial) account, reckoning, terminal payment," from a "to" (see ad-) + cont "counting, reckoning of money to be paid," fr

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