An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Ducht

by Friedrich Kluge

Ducht, feminine, Duchtbank, and Duft, ‘rowing seat, thwart;’ the form with f is High German, that with ch Low German; Old High German dofta, feminine, Old Icelandic þopta, feminine, ‘thwart’; Old High German gidofto, properly ‘comrade on the thwart,’ Anglo-Saxon geþofta, ‘comrade.’ One of the prim-Teutonic naval terms developed during the migrations of the Teutons; see Ruder, Segel, Mast, Schiff, &c. That the Low German form found its way into High German is not remarkable after what has been said under Bord, Büse, and Boot. The Old Teutonic word for ‘thwart’ (Gothic *þuftó, feminine), belongs probably to a root tup, ‘to squat down'; compare Lithuanian tupeti, ‘to squat,’ tupti, ‘to squat down.’