An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hahn
Hahn, masculine, ‘cock,’ from Middle High German han, Old High German hano, masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon hana (as well as cocc, English cock), Old Icelandic hane, Gothic hana, masculine; a common Teutonic word for ‘cock,’ with the stem hanan-, hanin-, which is common to the Old Teutonic dialects. A corresponding feminine Henne is merely West Teutonic; Old High German hęnna, Middle High German and Modern High German hęnne, feminine, Anglo-Saxon hęnn. On the other hand, Huhn seems to be really of common gender; it may at least be applied in Old High German to ‘cock’ also; compare Otfried’s êr thaȥ huan singe, ‘before the cock crows,’ literally ‘sings.’ In this passage we have a confirmation of the fact that the crowing of the cock was regarded as its song. The term Hahn by general acceptation signifies ‘singer.’ With this word, according to the laws of substitution, the stem of Latin canere, ‘to sing’ (compare Lithuanian gaidýs, ‘cock,’ literally ‘singer,’ allied to gêdoti, ‘to sing’). A feminine, ‘songstress,’ of Huhn is hardly conceivable; thus it follows that Henne is merely a recent West Teutonic form. The common gender Huhn, however, can hardly be connected with the root kan, ‘to sing,’ since it is, at least, a primitive form. The method of its formation, as the name of the agent, has no analogies.