An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Gicht

by Friedrich Kluge

Gicht, f. and n., ‘gout, mouth of a furnace,’ from the equiv. MidHG. giht, n. E. (chiefly in the collective form gegihte, n.), ‘gout, convulsions, spasms.’ OHG. *gihido may be inferred from AS. gihða, m., ‘paralysis’; this dental suffix is frequent in old names of diseases. The root gih is not found elsewhere, and its prim. meaning is obscure. Gehen cannot in any case be allied, since it presumes a root gai (from ga and a root ī̆; nor could we from this comparison infer the prim. meaning of Gicht.