An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Gote

by Friedrich Kluge

Gote, f., ‘godmother,’ from MidHG. gote, gotte, f., ‘‘godmother’ OHG. gota; besides these MidHG. göte, götte, m., godfather,’ occur. Probably OHG. *goto and gota are pet terms (comp. Base) for the co pounds gotfater, gotmuoter, gotsunu, ' gottohtar; comp. the equiv. AS. godfœder, godsunu, goddohter, which are equal to E. godfather, godson, and goddaughter; also Swed. gubbe, ‘old man,’ gumma, ‘old woman’ (dial. ‘godmother’), are pet names for guðfaðer, guðmóðer. As may be seen under Gevatter and Pate, the godfather is pater spiritualis, the child baptized filius or filia spiritualis; comp. Vetter also.