An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/hacken
hacken, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. hacken, ‘to hack, hew’; OHG. *hacchôn is by chance not recorded; comp. AS. haccian (hœccean), E. to hack, OFris. tohakia, ‘to hack to pieces.’ Not found in Goth.; may we assume *hawôn, a derivative from the stem haw in hauen? The medial guttural may have been simply an insertion before w, as in queck and keck. — Hacke, f. (thus even in MidHG.), Häckerling (ModHG. only), and Hächsel are derivatives.