An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kühn

by Friedrich Kluge

kühn, adjective, ‘bold, daring,’ from Middle High German küen, küene, Old High German chuoni, ‘bold, eager for combat, strong’; compare the non-mutated variant in the Middle High German and Old High German derivative kuonheit, ‘boldness,’ and in the Old High German adverb chuono. It corresponds to Middle Low German koene, Dutch koen, Anglo-Saxon cêne, ‘bold,’ English keen (the adjective is obsolete in Suabian and Bavarian); Scandinavian kœ́nn, ‘wise, experienced.’ The latter must at one time have been the prevalent sense in West Teutonic also, as is proved by the Modern High German proper name Konrad; Old High German and Middle High German Kuonrât (without mutation, like Old High German and Middle High German kuonheit), Anglo-Saxon Cênrêd (Gothic *Kônirêþs), may have meant ‘giving wise advice.’ Teutonic kôn-i- (literally ‘one that can understand, sensible’) is originally a verbal adjective from the verb kennen, können, hence the West Teutonic sense ‘bold,’ compared with the Old Icelandic meaning, must be regarded as derivative. All intellectual and moral conceptions of the Old Teutonic period are related more or less to war and conflict (compare bald, schnell, and Krieg).