An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/waten

by Friedrich Kluge

waten, verb, ‘to wade,’ from Middle High German waten, Old High German watan, strong verb, ‘to wade, go, stride'; a common Teutonic word; compare Dutch waden, Anglo-Saxon wadan, English to wade, Old Icelandic vaða, ‘to wade, press forwards’ (especially in water). The borrowed Italian term guadare has the same meaning, ‘to walk through water'; on the Old Icelandic noun vað, ‘ford,’ and the equivalent Dutch wadde, are based Italian guado, French gué, ‘ford, shallow part of a river'; compare Weed. The Teutonic root wad, ‘to stride, wade,’ is identical with the primitively cognate Latin vâdere, ‘to wade, ford,’ to which Latin vǎdum, ‘ford,’ is allied. The Aryan root wā̆dh has not been preserved in other languages.