An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Achse
Achse, feminine, ‘axle, axis,’ from the equivalent Middle High German ahse, Old High German ahsa, feminine; compare Dutch as, Anglo-Saxon eax, feminine, English axle (even in Middle English eaxel-tree occurs, English axle-tree), with derivative l, like Old Icelandic öxull, masculine, ‘axle'; Gothic *ahsa, or rather *ahsuls, is, by chance, not recorded. The stem ahsô-, common to the Teutonic languages, from pre-Teutonic aksâ, is widely diffused among the Aryan tongues; it is primitively related to Sanscrit ákša, masculine, Greek ἄξων, Latin axis, Old Slovenian osĭ, Lithuanian aszìs, ‘axle'; the supposition that the Teutonic cognates were borrowed is quite unfounded; compare Rad. The original sense of Aryan akso- remains obscure; with the root ag, ‘to drive,’ some have connected Latin ago, Greek ἄγω. See the following word.