Dirne

From Middle High German dierne (“girl; servant”), from Old High German diorna, thiorna (“girl; servant”), from Proto-West Germanic *þewernā. The sense “prostitute” developed from the use for a “girl from the lower classes”. It is first attested in the 15th century.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪrnə/, [ˈdɪʁnə], [ˈdɪɐ̯nə], [ˈdɪrnə]

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Dirne f (genitive Dirne, plural Dirnen)

1. (derogatory, dated, also biblical) whore (prostitute or sexually unreserved woman)

   Synonyms: Buhldirne, Hure, Lustdirne, Nutte; see also Thesaurus:Prostituierte

   Hyponyms: Edeldirne, Straßendirne

   • 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Vorspiel auf dem Theater”, in Faust: Der Tragödie erster Teil [Faust, Part One]‎:

     Der, nach dem Schauspiel, hofft ein Kartenspiel, / Der eine wilde Nacht an einer Dirne Busen.

     One, after the play, hopes for a card game / another, for a wild night on the bosom of a harlot.

   • 1851, Heinrich Heine, Romanzero‎, Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, Zweites Buch: Lamentationen, page 118:

     Das Glück ist eine leichte Dirne, / Und weilt nicht gern am selben Ort; / Sie streicht das Haar dir von der Stirne / Und küßt dich rasch und flattert fort.

     Luck is an easy girl / And does not like to linger in a place; / She wipes your hair from your brow / And kisses you swiftly and flutters away.

2. (archaic or dialectal) girl; lass

• The older sense “girl” is now chiefly restricted to dialectal cognate forms. Northern German Deern and Bavarian Dirndl are widely understood, though not commonly used outside of their traditional areas.

• Deern
• Dirndl

• “Dirne” in Duden online
• “Dirne” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Dirne” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.