Etymologically
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thistle

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Pronunciation

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

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