An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/rauh

by Friedrich Kluge

rauh, adjective, ‘rough, harsh, coarse,’ from Middle High German rûch (inflected rûher), Old High German rûh (inflected rûhêr), adjective, ‘rongh, shaggy, bristly’; compare Middle Dutch ruch, Modern Dutch ruig, ruw, ‘rough,’ Anglo-Saxon rûh, English rough. Gothic *rûhs, rûhws, are wanting. Perhaps primitively allied to Lithuanian raúkas, ‘wrinkle,’ rùkti, ‘to become wrinkled.’ The compound Rauchwerk, ‘furs, skins,’ preserves normally the uninflected form of Middle High German rûch. See rauch.