From Icelandic 'Geysir' (the gusher), from Old Norse 'geysa' (to gush) — one hot spring that named them all worldwide.
A hot spring that periodically erupts, shooting a column of water and steam into the air; in British English, also a gas water heater.
From Icelandic 'Geysir,' the proper name of the famous hot spring in Haukadalur, Iceland, from Old Norse 'geysa' (to gush, to rush forth), from Proto-Germanic *gausijan (to pour, to gush). The Proto-Germanic form traces to PIE *ǵʰew- (to pour, to libate), a root with rich reflexes across the family: Sanskrit जुहोति (juhóti, he pours a libation), Greek χέω (khéō, I pour), Latin 'fundere' (to pour, to melt — via a nasalised variant *ǵʰud-), and Tocharian B 'ku-' (to pour). The Great Geysir was described by European travellers from the 17th century onward, and its name became the generic
All geysers in the world are named after one specific Icelandic hot spring: Geysir in Haukadalur valley, which has been erupting since at least the 13th century. 'Old Faithful' in Yellowstone is the most famous geyser, but the original Geysir in Iceland coined the word. In British English, 'geyser' also means a gas-powered