An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/hemmen

by Friedrich Kluge

hemmen, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. hęmmen (MidG.), hamen, ‘to stop, hinder, check’; OHG. *hamên and *hęmmen are wanting. The early existence of the word, which is not found in Bav., is proved by OIc. hemja, ‘to check,’ and Sans. çamay, ‘to annihilate,’ which is perhaps cognate with the latter. It is based upon a Teut. root ham, meaning ‘to mutilate’; comp. OHG. ham (inflected form hammêr), ‘lame, paralytic’ (Goth. *ham-ma-, from *ham-na-, orig. a partic.), and further also OHG. hamal, ‘mutilated’ (see Hammel). Scand. suggests the possibility of a different etymology— hemja, ‘to curb any one, lame, check,’ from hǫm, f., ‘hind-leg of a horse,’ hemill, ‘rope for tethering cattle by the thighs when they are grazing,’ hafa hemil á, ‘to restrain any one.’ In Suab. and Bav. hemmen means only ‘to tether horses when grazing,’ Comp. also Lith. kámanos, plur., ‘bridle.’