An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kehren

by Friedrich Kluge

kehren (1.), verb, ‘to turn,’ from Middle High German kêren, Old High German chêrren, ‘to turn, direct’; a difficult word to explain both etymologically and phonetically; in Anglo-Saxon čěrran, čy̆rran (preterite čy̆rde), ‘to turn.’ kehren (2.), verb, ‘to sweep,’ from the equivalent Middle High German kęrn, kęren, kęrjen, Old High German chęrian, chęren; the Gothic form is probably *karjan, not *kazjan; also Old High German ubarchara, ‘offscouring, impurity,’ connected with Icelandic kar, neuter, ‘dirt (on new-born lambs and calves).’ Probably primitively allied to Lithuanian żeriu, żèrti, ‘to scrape.’