† chesteinechestenn.

Etymology: Middle English chasteine (commonly chesteine , etc.), < Old French chastaigne, -aine (= Old Northern French castaigne , Provençal castanha , Catalan castanya , Spanish castaña , Portuguese castanha , Italian castagna ) < Latin castanea chestnut, < Greek καστανέα , synonym of κάστανον , καστάνιον , καστάνειον (in full καστάνειον or κασταναῖον κάρυον , lit. ‘Castanian nut’, referred by some to Κασταναία a city of Pontus, by others to Castana in Magnesia (Thessaly). The word was already in Old English in the form cisten- , cyst-béam , corresponding to Old High German ˈchestinna (Middle High German ˈkestene , kesten , modern Upper German keste ), pointing to a West Germanic *kastinna , *kastinja for *kastanja (probably by association with Germanic suffix -injô- ). It is doubtful whether this Old English form had anything to do with the change of Middle English chasteine to chesteine , or whether this was merely due to the obscurity of the first syllable while the stress was still upon -teine . In its latest stage chesten , nut was added: see chestnut n.