An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schatten

by Friedrich Kluge

Schatten, masculine, ‘shade, shadow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German schate, masculine (rarely feminine), Old High German scato (genitive -awes), masculine; corresponding to Gothic skadus, Anglo-Saxon sčeadu, English shade, shadow, Dutch schaduw, Old Saxon skado, ‘shadow.’ Perhaps Greek σκότος, ‘darkness,’ is allied; Old Irish scáth, scáil, ‘shadow,’ are, however, more closely akin. For another Old Teutonic word for ‘shadow,’ see under schauen.