Etymology

mistletoe

mis·tle·toe
M3I1S1T1L1E1T1O1E1

Today it means: Any of numerous hemiparasitic evergreen plants of the order Santalales with white berries that grow in the crowns of apple trees, oaks, and other trees, such as the European mistletoe (Viscum album) and American mistletoe or eastern mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum). Full definition →

Middle English mistelto ← Old English misteltān ← Old Norse mistilteinn
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The story

  1. Old Norse · calque ofmistilteinn
  2. Old English · inherited frommisteltān“mistletoe”
  3. Middle English · inherited frommistelto
  4. English todaymistletoe

From Middle English mistelto, mistilto (“European mistletoe”), from Old English misteltān (“mistletoe”), from mistel (“mistletoe; basil; birdlime”) + tān (“sprig, shoot, twig”), possibly as a calque of Old Norse mistilteinn; equivalent to mistle + tan (“twig”). This was mistaken for the plural of tā (“toe”). Cognate with Danish mistelten (“mistletoe”), Norwegian misteltein (“mistletoe”), Icelandic mistilteinn (“mistletoe”). Compare also the simplex form West Frisian mistel (“mistletoe”), Dutch mistel (“mistletoe”), German Mistel (“mistletoe”), Swedish mistel (“mistletoe”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.