kidney English · revision 13296

− It is Middle English kidenere, kideneye, kidenei, of unknown or obscure origin.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) The second element seems to be ey, egg (see [[egg]]), referring to the shape,^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) and the plural kidneiren was perhaps influenced by Middle English nere, kidney, from Old English *nēore, cognate with German [[m|de|Niere]] and Greek nephrós.^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) Barnhart suggests an Old English compound *cydenēore, with dialect kid, a pod (related to [[cod]], a bag),^(Barnhart 1988) while Etymonline proposes Old English cwiþ, womb.^(Etymonline)