thistle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English thistel,^[2][3] inherited from Old English þistel,^[2][4][5] inherited from Proto-Germanic *þistilaz.^[2] Its cognates are Old Saxon thistil, Old High German distil, German Distel, Dutch distel, Old Norse þistill, Swedish tistel and Danish tidsel.^[2][4][6][7] The OED notes that modern dialects, in Somerset and in Low German, point to an original long ī in the stem, and that the further history of the word is unknown;^[6] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford also call it of unknown origin.^[8][9] Klein takes it as a diminutive formation from the root Proto-Indo-European *steig- (“to prick, stick, pierce”), the source of stick, comparing Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō, “to prick”);^[7] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary cite Watkins for an extended form of the same root, with some hesitation.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A prickly plant: Old English þistel glosses Latin carduus in the Corpus Glossary,^[5][6] which Barnhart dates to about 700, among the earliest Old English glossaries.^[4] The Middle English form thystle is recorded about 1325.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) described the thistle as a prickly weed of cornfields.^[11] From 1398 to 1578 the name was also applied to other prickly plants, such as the artichoke, the sea holly and the teasel.^[6] The thistle has been the heraldic emblem of Scotland since the 15th century, recorded in 1488 in the Scottish treasurer's accounts,^[6][2][12] and it became the badge of the Order of the Thistle, the Scottish order of knighthood founded by James II in 1687.^[6][12] Figurative uses for something noxious or prickly date from 1563.^[6] Thistledown, which is carried far by the wind, is named by the 1560s and stands for lightness or flimsiness;^[2] the thistle-finch (1580s) is a bird that feeds on its seeds, especially the goldfinch.^[2][13] In dialect the corn bunting was a thistle-cock.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 700 – Old English þistel, glossing Latin carduus.^[4][6][5]
• c. 1325 – Middle English thystle.^[4]
• 1398 – applied to other prickly plants, such as the artichoke and the teasel (obsolete by 1578).^[6]
• 1488 – the heraldic emblem of Scotland.^[6]
• 1560s – thistledown.^[2]
• 1563 – figurative, of something noxious or prickly.^[6]
• 1580s – thistle-finch.^[2]
• 1687 – part of the insignia of the Order of the Thistle.^[6][12]
• 1766 – verb, to clear land of thistles.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of many prickly-leaved plants of the daisy family, chiefly of the genera Carduus and Cirsium, with dense purple, pink, yellow or white flower heads.^[14][15][6]
2. A thistle, or a picture of one, as the national emblem of Scotland.^[14][6]
3. the Thistle: the Order of the Thistle, a Scottish order of knighthood, or its badge.^[14][6]

Verb

1. (rare) To clear land of thistles.^[6][9]

Word family

• thistly
• thistlelike
• thistledown
• thistle tube

Related words

• stick

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster