An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Kind

by Friedrich Kluge

Kind, n., ‘child,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kint (gen. kindes), n., OHG. chind, n., ‘child’; corresponding to OSax. kind, n., ‘child’; wanting in Goth., Scand., and E., but a Goth. *kinþa- may be assumed, whence OSlov. čędo, ‘child,’ is borrowed. In OIc. a form kundr, m., ‘son,’ allied by gradation occurs, and with this an adj. suffix kunds, ‘descended from,’ may be most closely connected, Goth. himinakunds, ‘heavenly,’ qinakunds, ‘female,’ AS. feorrancund, ‘having a distant origin.’ This suffix is an old partic. in to (comp. alt, falt, laut, traut, Gott), from a root kun, ken, kan, which has numerous derivatives both in the Teut. and non-Teut. languages. The root signifies ‘to give birth to, beget’; comp. König and also Goth. kuni, OHG. chunni, MidHG. künne, n., ‘race’ (Goth. qêns, ‘woman,’ E. queen, are, however, unconnected). So too AS. cęnnan, ‘to give birth to, beget.’ Teut. ken, Aryan gen, has representatives in Gr. γένος, n., γί-γνομαι, γυνή, in Lat. genus, gigno, gens, in OSlov. žena, ‘wife’ (Pruss. gena, ‘wife’), in Lith. gentis, ‘relative,’ and in the Sans. root jan, ‘to generate,’ jánas, n., ‘race,’ janús, n., ‘birth, creature, race,’ janî, f., ‘woman,’ jantú, m., ‘child, being, tribe,’ jâtá, ‘son’ (the latter is most nearly connected with Teut. Kind).