An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Heu

by Friedrich Kluge

Heu, n., ‘hay,’ from MidHG. höu, hou, houwe, n., ‘hay, grass,’ OHG. hęwi, houwi (prop. nom. hęwi, gen. houwes, dat. houwe), n., ‘hay.’ Comp. Goth. hawi (gen. haujis), n., ‘hay, grass’ (with regard to the change of Goth. j into OHG. w and the consequent absence of mutation, see Frau, Au, Gau, &c.; in earlier ModHG. the unmutated form Hau is still retained); OSax. houwi, AS. hêg, hîg (with g for Goth. j as usual), n., MidE. hei, E. hay, OIc. hey, n., ‘hay’; common Teut. hauja- (in the Goth. stem). Apparently from the root hau (see hauen), with the suffix -ja-, Heu, meaning ‘that which is to be cut.’ There is less probability of its being connected with Gr. πόα (Ion. ποίην), ‘grass,’ from ποβίη, κβοξίη (Teut. h equal to Gr. τ for κε, both from Aryan k, as in ἵππος, equal to Lat. equus, Gr. ἕκεσθαι, equal to Lat. sequi).