An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hechse

by Friedrich Kluge

Hechse, Hächse, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German hęhse, Old High German hahsa, feminine, ‘hock' (especially of horses); the presumable form in Gothic is *hahsi (genitive *hahsjôs), feminine. Corresponding in sound to Old Indian kakšýâ, feminine, ‘girth (of a saddle),’ a derivative of kákša-s, masculine, ‘passage for the girths, armpit'; Latin coxa, ‘hip,’ whence the adverb coxim, ‘squatting,’ from which a meaning similar to that of the High German word may be deduced. The signification of the primitively Aryan word fluctuated between ‘armpit, hip, and hock.’ In the Teutonic group the following are also allied to Gothic *hahsi, feminine — Old High German hahsinôn, Middle High German hęhsenen, ‘subnervare, to hamstring,’ Anglo-Saxon hôxene, Middle English houghsene, Frisian hôxene, ‘hock.’