An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Honig

by Friedrich Kluge

Honig, masculine, ‘honey,’ from Middle High German honec (genitive -ges, variant hünic), Old High German honag, honang, neuter; compare Old Saxon honeg, Dutch honig, Anglo-Saxon huneg, neuter, English honey, Old Icelandic hunang, neuter; a common Teutonic word, wanting only in Gothic, in which an older term, miliþ (Greek μελιτ-, Latin mel, under Mehltau), is used. The origin is not certain; it has been referred to Greek κόνις, ‘dust’; Honig, ‘granular’?.