1640s, "to quake, tremble," phonetic variant of Middle English didderen (late 14c.), which is of uncertain origin. The sense of "vacillate in opinion, be indecisive" is from 1908. Related: Dithered; dithering.
he was in a dither
disunity
disuse
disused
ditch
ditheism
dither
dithyramb
ditto
ditty
ditty bag
ditzy