An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Gaumen

by Friedrich Kluge

Gaumen, masculine, ‘palate, taste,’ from Middle High German goume, guome, Old High German goumo (giumo?), guomo, masculine, ‘palate, throat, jaw’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon gôma, masculine, ‘palate,’ English gums (probably from Anglo-Saxon *gumma, since, moreover, there are numerous forms in earlier Modern High German which point to an Old High German *gummo, ‘palate’); Old Icelandic gómr, masculine, ‘palate’; Gothic *gaumô, *gômô, neuter, are wanting. Allied to Lithuanian gomyris, ‘palate.’ The relation of the vowels of the stem (Old High German and Middle High German ou and uo, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian ô) is obscure; see Bude. Some etymologists connect the word with a Teutonic root gau (Greek χαν (in χαῦνος, ‘gasping, loose,’ χάος, ‘chasm,’ for χάϝος).