An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/heucheln

by Friedrich Kluge

heucheln, verb, ‘to feign, dissemble,’ Modern High German only, properly a Middle German word (the corresponding Upper German word is gleißnen), allied to an early Modern High German hanchen, ‘to duck, stoop,’ from Middle High German hûchen, ‘to crouch’; compare the further cognates under hocken. The variation of meaning ‘to stoop, dissemble,’ is exhibited in an Old Teutonic root lut, Anglo-Saxon lûtan, ‘to bend, bow,’ to which lot, ‘deceit,’ and Gothic liuta, ‘hypocrite,’ are allied.