An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Galgant

by Friedrich Kluge

Galgant, masculine, ‘galangal,’ from the equivalent Middle High German galgan, galgân, galgant, masculine; compare Middle English galingale, English galangal; a medicinal herb of the Middle Ages, known under the same name to Romance (compare Italian galanga, French galanga — Middle Latin galanga; also Middle Greek γαλάγγα). The origin of the term has probably been rightly ascribed to the East; some etymologists compare it with Arab galang.