An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Sand

by Friedrich Kluge

Sand, masculine, ‘sand,’ from the equivalent Middle High German sant (genitive sandes), Old High German sant (genitive -tes), masculine; corresponding to the equivalent Old Saxon sand, masculine and neuter, Dutch zand, Anglo-Saxon sǫnd, neuter, English sand, Old Icelandic sandr, masculine (Gothic *sanda-, masculine and neuter, is by chance not recorded). They represent pre-Teutonic samdho-, samadho- (in Teutonic m before d is changed into n; see Rand, Hundert, and Schande); compare Greek ἄμαθος, ‘sand.’ The equivalent Bavarian and Tyrolean samp (Middle High German sampt), from Old High German *samat, corresponds exactly to the Greek word; compare further English dialectic samel, ‘sandy soil,’ with Latin sabulum, from *samulum?.