An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hengst

by Friedrich Kluge

Hengst, masculine, ‘stallion,’ from Middle High German hęngest, Old High German hęngist, masculine, ‘gelding, horse (generally),’ compare Dutch hengst, masculine, ‘stallion,’ Anglo-Saxon hęngest, masculine, ‘male horse (generally),’ obsolete at the beginning of the Middle English period; Old Icelandic hestr (from *hinhistr), masculine, ‘stallion, horse (generally).’ The earlier meaning of the High German word was equus castratus, and by the adoption of the general term Pferd, ‘horse,’ the word obtained in Modern High German (from the 15th century) as ‘ungelded, male horse.’ In Gothic probably *hangists. The attempt to explain the word etymologically has not yet been successful; compare Lithuanian szankus, ‘nimble’ (of horses)?, or Lithuanian kinkýti, ‘to put (horses) to’?.