Etymology

gaiter

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Today it means: A covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and instep. Full definition →

French guêtre ← Middle French guiestres ← Old French *gueste
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gaiter · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*wastijō“garment; dress”
  2. Frankish · derived from*wastiju
  3. Old French · derived from*gueste
  4. Middle French · derived fromguiestres
  5. French · borrowed fromguêtre
  6. English todaygaiter

Borrowed from French guêtre, from Middle French guiestres, guestes pl, from Old French *gueste, from Frankish *wastiju, from Proto-Germanic *wastijō (“garment; dress”). Cognate with Middle High German wester (“a child's chrisom-cloth”), Middle High German westebarn (“godchild”), Old English wæstling (“a coverlet”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌹 (wasti, “garment; dress”).

gaiter · noun2

  1. Old English · inherited fromgāte-trēow“the common dogwood”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromgaytre
  3. English todaygaiter

From Middle English gaytre, from Old English gāte-trēow (“the common dogwood”), equivalent to gāt (“goat”) + trēow (“tree”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.