An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Gerte
Gerte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German gęrte, Old High German gartia, feminine, ‘rod, twig, staff’; a derivative of Old High German and Middle High German gart, ‘rod, staff, stick.’ To the latter correspond Gothic gazds (compare Hort, equivalent to Gothic huzds), ‘stick,’ and Old Icelandic gaddr (English goad and its equivalent Anglo-Saxon gâd are not allied; see Ger). Probably Teutonic gazda- (Old High German gęrta would be *gazdjô) is primitively allied to Latin hasta (from Aryan gazdhâ), ‘spear.’