An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Tod

by Friedrich Kluge

Tod, masculine, ‘death,’ from the equivalent Middle High German tôt (d), Old High German tôd, masculine; corresponding to Gothic dauþus, Old Saxon dôth, Dutch dood, Anglo-Saxon deáþ, English death. A verbal abstract of the Teutonic verbal root dau, which has been preserved in Old Icelandic deyja, strong verb (whence the equivalent English to die); compare Old Saxon dôian (from daujan), Old High German and Middle High German touwen (Middle High German töuwen), weak verb, ‘to die.’ Teutonic dau-þu- has the Latin-Sanscrit suffix tu- (base dháu-tu-s). The adjective cognate Modern High German tot, ‘dead,’ is based on the to participle of the same root, dhā̆u (participle dhautó), With these are connected in the non-Teutonic languages Old Slovenian daviti, ‘to strangle,’ Lithuanian dóvyti, ‘to torment,’ which correspond as causatives to Gothic dôjan (for *dôwjan), ‘to torment’ (literally ‘to put to death’). The original form of the root was dhē̆w, dhō̆w.