An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hund

by Friedrich Kluge

Hund, masculine, ‘dog, hound,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hunt(d), Old High German hunt(t), masculine; a common Teutonic word hunda-, ‘dog’; compare Gothic hunds, Old Icelandic hundr, Anglo-Saxon hund, English hound (for the chase only, in other cases dog, Anglo-Saxon docge), Dutch hond, Low German hund. If the second syllable in hun-da- is a derivative (compare Hinde), the Teutonic word corresponds to Aryan kun-, ‘dog’; compare Greek κύων (genitive κυν-ὁς), Sanscrit çvã (genitive çún-as), Latin canis, Lithuanian szu̇ (stem szun-), Old Irish cú. Thus the Aryans in their primitively home were already acquainted with the dog as distinct from the wolf. In Teutonic it might also appear as if the word were connected with an old strong verb hinþan, ‘to catch’ (in Gothic); in popular etymology Hund might he regarded as the ‘captor, hunter, taker of prey.’ The phrase auf den Hund kommen, ‘to fall into poverty, go to the dogs,’ seems to be based upon the Old Teutonic expression in dice-playing (see gefallen, Sau, and also Daus); probably Hund, like Latin canis and Greek κύων, denoted an unlucky throw; in Sanscrit the professional gambler is called ‘dog-slayer’ (çvaghnin). The probable antiquity of dice-playing is attested by Tacitus' account of the Teutons and by the songs of the Vedas.