An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Heu

by Friedrich Kluge

Heu, neuter, ‘hay,’ from Middle High German höu, hou, houwe, neuter, ‘hay, grass,’ Old High German hęwi, houwi (properly nominative hęwi, genitive houwes, dative houwe), neuter, ‘hay.’ Compare Gothic hawi (genitive haujis), neuter, ‘hay, grass’ (with regard to the change of Gothic j into Old High German w and the consequent absence of mutation, see Frau, Au, Gau, &c.; in earlier Modern High German the unmutated form Hau is still retained); Old Saxon houwi, Anglo-Saxon hêg, hîg (with g for Gothic j as usual), neuter, Middle English hei, English hay, Old Icelandic hey, neuter, ‘hay’; common Teutonic hauja- (in the Gothic stem). Apparently from the root hau (see hauen), with the suffix -ja-, Heu, meaning ‘that which is to be cut.’ There is less probability of its being connected with Greek πόα (Ionian ποίην), ‘grass,’ from ποβίη, κβοξίη (Teutonic h equal to Greek τ for κε, both from Aryan k, as in ἵππος, equal to Latin equus, Greek ἕκεσθαι, equal to Latin sequi).