Etymology

girdle

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Today it means: That which girds, encircles, or encloses; a circumference. Full definition →

Middle English girdel ← Old English gyrdel ← Proto-West Germanic *gurdil
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*gurdilaz“girdle, belt”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*gurdil
  3. Old English · inherited fromgyrdel
  4. Middle English · inherited fromgirdel
  5. English todaygirdle

From Middle English girdel, gerdel, gurdel, from Old English gyrdel, from Proto-West Germanic *gurdil, from Proto-Germanic *gurdilaz (“girdle, belt”), equivalent to gird + -le. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäddel (“belt”), West Frisian gurdle, gurle, gurl (“belt”), Dutch gordel (“belt”), German Gürtel (“belt”), Yiddish גאַרטל (gartl, “belt”) (whence gartel, a doublet of girdle), Swedish gördel (“girdle”), Icelandic gyrðill (“girdle”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.