An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Nase

by Friedrich Kluge

Nase, feminine, ‘nose,’ from the equivalent Middle High German nase, Old High German nasa, feminine; corresponding terms occur in the other Teutonic languages, but Gothic *nasa is by chance not recorded. Old Icelandic nǫs, feminine (for nasu, nasô); Anglo-Saxon (with gradation o, a) nosu, nasu, English nose (the form with a in the stem appears in numerous Anglo-Saxon compounds as nœs-), Dutch neus. Like other terms for parts of the body, this too is common Aryan (see Fuß, Herz, Ohr, Niere, Zahn, &c.); compare Old Indian nā̆sâ, nas, feminine. Old Slovenian nosŭ, masculine, Lithuanian nósis, Latin nâsus, nâres. See further Nüstern.