An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Humpe
Humpe, feminine, Humpen, masculine, ‘drinking-cup, bumper, bowl,’ Modern High German only (from the 17th century); it seems, however, to be primitive, since correspondences are found in the Aryan languages, Sanscrit kumbha, masculine, ‘pot, urn,’ Zend χumba (the initial h of the Modern High German word probably originated like the h in haben, root khabh; yet compare also Greek κύμβος, masculine, ‘vessel, cup’). However remarkable it may seem that a primitively word like Humpen should have been unrecorded in the entire Teutonic group until the 17th century, yet similar examples of such a phenomenon may be adduced; compare Schwire, ‘stake,’ in Modern High German dialectic only, which, like Anglo-Saxon swër, ‘pillar,’ corresponds to Sanscrit sváru-s, ‘sacrificial stake.’ In this case, however, the supposition that the word has been borrowed is more probable, because Teutonic has for the most part adopted foreign terms for drinking vessels (compare Krug, Krause, Kruke, Kelch); the assumption, on account of Zend χumba, that the word was borrowed at an early period from a Persian dialectic is alluring (as in the case of Pfad).