An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Kahn

by Friedrich Kluge

Kahn, masculine, ‘boat, skiff, wherry,’ Modern High German only (strictly unknown to Upper German and Rhenish, as in the case of Boot; in Upper German Nachen); from Low German kane, Dutch kaan; compare Old Icelandic kœ́na, feminine, ‘a kind of boat.’ Old Icelandic kane signifies ‘wooden vessel,’ whence the meaning ‘boat’ might be evolved according to the analogies adduced under Schiff; compare Danish kane, with a somewhat different sense ‘sleigh.’ Low German kane looks like a metathesis of Anglo-Saxon naca (compare fißeln and Ziege). From the Teutonic cognates, Old French cane, ‘ship, is derived, but hardly so Modern French canot, which is of American origin.