kilt

Kilt comes from Middle English kilten, meaning "to tuck up, gird," which seems to trace back through North Germanic to Old Norse kelta or kjalta, meaning "skirt" or "lap."

The word started as a verb describing the action of gathering and tucking fabric up around the body, and over time settled into the noun naming the garment itself.

Some trace the Old Norse root further back to a Proto-Germanic word for "womb," which would make kilt a distant relative of the English word child.