An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Kuh

by Friedrich Kluge

Kuh, feminine, ‘cow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German kuo, feminine; compare Middle Low German kô, Dutch koe, English cow, Anglo-Saxon cû, Old Icelandic kýr, feminine (Gothic *kôs); Teutonic type kô-, feminine, ‘cow.’ This word, like the names of other domestic animals, is found in the non-Teutonic languages, and in the form of gō̆w (gô) it is common to the Aryan group; compare Indian gâus (accusative gâm), feminine, Greek βούς (stem βοϝ), Latin bos (stem bov-). These terms are both masculine and feminine, hence Sanscrit gâus, masculine, ‘bull, cattle,’ feminine, ‘cow’; Greek βούς, ‘cattle, ox, cow’; Latin bos, ‘ox, cow’; Lettic gůws, ‘cow.’ This term, like other primitively Aryan words (compare Pferd, Schaf, Hund, Ochse, &c.), proves that the Aryans, before the division into the later tribes, were already acquainted with domestic animals.