An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Joch

by Friedrich Kluge

Joch, neuter, ‘yoke, ridge of mountains,’ from the equivalent Middle High German joch. Old High German joh(hh), neuter, ‘yoke, ridge of mountains, acre’; corresponding to Gothic juk, neuter, ‘yoke of oxen,’ Old Icelandic ok, Anglo-Saxon geoc, English yoke, Dutch juk; a common Aryan word formed from the Aryan root yug, ‘to fasten’; compare Sanscrit yugá, ‘yoke, team’ (allied to the root yuj, ‘to put to’), Greek ζυγόν from ξεύγνυμ, Latin jugum, from jungere, Lithuanian jùngus, Old Slovenian igo (from *jŭgo); compare Jauchert. The strong root verb (Teutonic root juk) has become obsolete in the whole Teutonic root.