An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hand

by Friedrich Kluge

Hand, feminine, ‘hand,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German hant, feminine; compare Old Saxon and Dutch hand, Anglo-Saxon hand, feminine, English hand, Old Icelandic hǫnd, Gothic handus, feminine; a common Teutonic word for ‘hand,’ unknown to the other divisions of the Aryan group, most of the languages having special terms of their own. It is usually derived from Gothic hinþan, ‘to catch,’ frahunþans, masculine, ‘prisoner’ (compare the cognate English to hunt, Anglo-Saxon huntian), in the sense of ‘the grasping, seizing part,’ and to this there is no objection, as far as the sound and meaning are concerned. Yet the fact remains that the old names of parts of the body have no corresponding strong verbal stems; compare Herz, Ohr, Auge, Finger, Daumen. With regard to the form, it is to be observed that the word, according to Gothic handus, was originally a u-stem, but is declined even in Old High German like nouns in i, though traces of the u declension remain throughout Old High German and Middle High German; compare abhanden.

Hand, ‘kind, sort,’ is developed from the medial sense ‘side’; compare Middle High German ze beiden handen, ‘on both sides,’ aller hande, ‘of every kind,’ vier hande, ‘of four sorts.’