Etymology Dictionary

KIDNEY,  a gland which secretes the urine.  (Scand.)   A corruption of M.E. kidnere, the kidney; also spelt kidneer.   'And the two kydneers;' Wyclif, Exod. xxix. 13 (earlier version); 'and twey kidneris;' (later version).   The word nere or neere is also used alone, in the same sense.   'Neere of a beest, ren;' Prompt. Parv., p. 353; and see Way's note.   Thus the latter syllable means 'kidney;' whilst the former means 'belly' or 'womb,' from the position of the glands.   1. Kid is here a corruption of quid = quith; cf. prov. E. kite, kyte, the belly, which is the same word.—Icel. kuiðr, the womb; Swed. qued, the womb, in the Swed. tr. of Luke, xi. 27. + A.S. cwið, the womb; used to translate Lat. matrix; Wright's Vocab. i. 45, col. 1. + Goth. kwithus, the womb.   All from a Teutonic base KWETHU (Fick, iii, 54), allied to Teutonic KWETHRA, the belly, occurring in Goth. lauskwithrs, having an empty [lit. loose] stomach.   The latter is further allied to the Aryan base GATARA, the belly, womb, whence Skt. jathara, the belly, womb, Gk. γαστήρ, Lat. uenter (for guenter).   See Gastric, Ventral.   2. M.E. nere is also Scand.—Icel. nýra, a kidney, pl. nýru; Dan. nyre, pl. nyrer; Swed. njure. + Du. nier, kidney, loin. + G. niere, pl. nieren.   All from a Teutonic base NEURAN (Fick, iii. 163), allied to Gk. νεφρός, pl. νεφροί, Lat. nefrones, nebrundines (see White's Dict.); words which are probably to be referred to a ✔NIW, to be fat; cf. Skt. nív, to be fat, become corpulent; with allusion to the fat in which the kidneys are enclosed.   ¶ It may be further observed that the Icel. kviðr is freely used in composition; as in kvið-slit, rupture, kvið-verkr, colic, kvið-þroti, a swelling of the stomach; &c.   Der. kidney-bean.   The phrase 'of his kidney' means 'of his size or kind;' see Merry Wives, iii. 5. 116.