An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hürde

by Friedrich Kluge

Hürde, feminine, ‘hurdle,’ from Middle High German hurt, plural hürte and hürde, feminine, ‘hurdle, wickerwork,’ Old High German hurt, plural hurdi, feminine; compare Gothic haúrds, feminine, ‘door,’ Old Icelandic hurð, feminine, ‘door’ (this sense is also found in Middle High German), likewise ‘wickerwork, hurdle, lid’; Anglo-Saxon *hyrd, Middle English hyrde, Anglo-Saxon hyrdel, English hurdle. The meaning ‘door’ is only a development of the general sense ‘wickerwork’'; pre-Tent. krti-. Compare Latin crâtes, Greek κυρτία, ‘wickerwork,’ κύρτη, κύρτος, ‘creel, cage,’ κάρταλος, ‘basket’; allied to the Sanscrit root kṛt, ‘to spin,’ cṛt, ‘to connect, combine.’