Etymology
1. O.E.
geldan (Anglian),
gieldan (W.Saxon) "to pay" (class III strong verb; past tense
geald, p.p.
golden), from P.Gmc.
*geldanan "pay" (cf. O.S.
geldan "to be worth," O.N.
gjaldo "to repay, return," M.Du.
ghelden, Du.
gelden "to cost, be worth, concern," O.H.G.
geltan, Ger.
gelten "to be worth," Goth.
fra-gildan "to repay, requite"), perhaps from PIE
*ghel-to- "I pay," found only in Balto-Slavic and Gmc., unless O.C.S.
zledo, Lith.
geliuoti are Gmc. loan-words. Sense developed in Eng. via use to translate L.
reddere, Fr.
rendre, and had expanded by c.1300 to "repay, return, render (service), produce, surrender." Related to M.L.G. and M.Du.
gelt, Du.
geld, Ger.
Geld "money." Earliest Eng. sense survives in financial "
yield from investments." The noun is O.E.
gield "payment, sum of money;" extended sense of "production" (as of crops) is first attested c.1440.
Yielding in sense of "giving way to physical force" is recorded from 1665.
2. From Middle English yielden, yelden, ȝelden (“to yield, pay”), from Old English ġieldan (“to pay”), from Proto-West Germanic *geldan (“to pay”), from Proto-Germanic *geldaną (“to pay”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”). Doublet of geld.
3. The noun is from Middle English ȝeld (“tax, payment”), from Old English ġield (“payment”), from Proto-West Germanic *geld (“payment”), from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”).
4. Cognates
5. Cognate with Scots yield (“to yield”), North Frisian jilden (“to pay”), Saterland Frisian jäilde (“to be valid, matter, count, be worth”), West Frisian jilde (“to pay”), Low German gellen, Dutch gelden (“to apply, count, be valued, be regarded”), gelden (“to apply, count, be valued, be regarded”), German gelten (“to apply, count, be valued, be regarded”), Danish gælde (“to apply, count, be valued, be regarded”), Icelandic gjalda (“to pay, yield, give”), Norwegian Bokmål gjelde (“to apply, count, be valued, be regarded”), Norwegian Nynorsk gjelde, gjelda (“to apply, count, be valued, be regarded”), Swedish gälda (“to pay”), gälla (“to apply, be regarded”).
6. The noun is cognate with West Frisian jild (“money”), Dutch geld (“money”), Low German and German Geld (“money”), Danish gæld (“debt”), Faroese and Icelandic gjald (“fee, payment”), Norn gild (“payment”), Norwegian gjeld (“debt”), and Swedish gäld (“debt”). See also geld. See: Proto-Germanic '
*geldaną', Frisian, Saterlandic 'jäilde', Low Saxon 'gellen', Dutch '
gelden', German, old spelling '
gelten', Danish '
gælde', Icelandic '
gjalda', Norwegian '
gjelde', Norwegian, nynorsk '
gjelde', Swedish '
gälda'.
Verbs referencing "yield"
English
geld, German, old spelling
gelten, Old High German geltan, Faroese
gjalda, Icelandic
gjalda, Luxembourgish
gëllen, Low Saxon gellen, Danish
gælde, Cimbrian ghèltan.