An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Kette
Kette (1.), f., ‘covey,’ with the earlier variants kitte, kütte, at present dial.; used in ModHG. only of partridges, &c. Kette is a corruption of the unintelligible kütte, MidHG. kütte, OHG. chutti, n., ‘herd, troop’; comp. MidLG. küdde, Du. kudde, f., ‘herd.’ We might connect the word with Lith. gũtas, m., gaujà, f., ‘herd,’ and hence further with the Ind. root jû (for gū̆), ‘to drive, urge on,’ Lith. gùiti, ‘to drive.’ Therefore the dental of the OHG. word, as in the equiv. Lith. gũtas, belongs to the suffix. The Aryan root is gu, ‘to drive cattle.’
Kette (2.), f., ‘chain, fetter,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kęten, kętene (Kette is found since the 15th cent.), f., OHG. chętina, chętinna, f., ‘chain’; borrowed from Lat. catêna, yet hardly from the latter itself, since the word was probably naturalized in G. before the HG. permutation of consonants (comp. Kerker), but rather from a vernacular cadéna (thus Prov. and Span., hence Fr. chaine, from which MidE. chaine, E. chain is derived), which by a change of accent and by the HG. permutation and mutation resulted in chętîna; Du. keten and MidDu. ketene still point, however, to the t of the Lat. word. For the transition of ê to î, comp. feiern and Pein. The accent is changed, as in OHG. ábbā̆t, from Lat. abbát-em.