An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Gans

by Friedrich Kluge

Gans, f., ‘goose,’ from the equiv. MidHG. gans, OHG. gans, f.; a common Teut. term for ‘goose,’ unrecorded in Goth. only, in which *gans, f. (plur. *gans) may have been the form (comp. Span. ganso, adopted from it). To this correspond AS. gôs (ô from an before s), plur. gês (owing to the i mutation), f., E. goose, plur. geese; OIc. gás, f., from pre-Teut. ghans-; Du. gans; one of the few names of birds to be ascribed to a primit. Aryan origin, since it recurs in most of the languages of the Aryan group; Sans. haṅsá-s, m., haṅsî, f., ‘goose,’ ModPers. yâz, Lith. żąsìs (OSlov. gąsĭ is borrowed from Teut.), Gr. χήν, Lat. anser (for *hanser), OIr. géis, ‘swan’ (from ghansi). The s of Aryan ghans- seems to be a suffix (comp. Fuchs, Monat); at least Teut. words of cognate stem point to ghan- as the more primitive form; comp. OHG. ganaȥȥo, MidHG. ganze, genz, m., ‘gander,’ Du. gent, ‘gander,’ AS. ganot, E. gannet (‘swan’); AS. gandra, E. gander. Pliny informs us that large flocks of geese were kept in Germania, and that the birds or their feathers were sent even to Rome; one species was said to be called gantae by the Teutons; a similar term is known in Rom. (Prov. ganta, OFr. gante, ‘wild goose’), which borrowed it from Teut. To the Teut. ganta, from pre-Teut. ganda, the OIr. géd, ‘goose’ (Lith. gàndras, ‘stork’), is primit. allied.