An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Nuß

by Friedrich Kluge

Nuß (1.), feminine, ‘nut,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German nuȥ, feminine, neither cognate with nor borrowed from Latin nux (nucem). It is rather a genuine Teutonic world, originally with initial h; compare Old Icelandic hnot, feminine, Anglo-Saxon hnutu, feminine, English nut, Dutch noot (Gothic *hnuts, feminine, is wanting). The genuine Teutonic cognates point to a pre-Teutonic knud-, which appears with the same sense in Old Irish cnú.

Nuß (2.), feminine, ‘blow, push,’ Modern High German simply; only apparently identical with the preceding word (compare Dachtel); historically, however, it is probably allied to Gothic hnutô, ‘prick.’