An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gähnen

by Friedrich Kluge

gähnen, verb, ‘to yawn, gape,’ from the equivalent Middle High German ginen (genen, geinen), Old High German ginên (geinôn); Modern High German ae for ĕ. Gothic *gi- nai-, from the root gī̆, ‘to gape’; compare Anglo-Saxon ginian, gânian, ‘to gape.’ Old Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon possess a strong verb formed from the root gī̆, and n originally a suffix of the present stem — Old Icelandic gína, Anglo-Saxon tôgînan, ‘to bark’; compare also Old Icelandic gin, neuter, ‘jaw of animals.’ Old High German gîên, ‘to gape,’ is formed without the suffix n; so too with a derivative w, Old High German giwên, gëwôn, Middle High German giwen, gëwen, ‘to open the mouth wide.’ The Teutonic root gī̆, from pre-Teutonic ghī̆, is widely diffused, especially in West Teutonic. Compare Latin hiare (for Latin h, representing Teutonic g, see Gerste and Gast), Old Slovenian zijati, ‘to gape, bark,’ Lithuanian żióti, ‘tó ‘to open the mouth wide’; Old Irish gin, ‘mouth’ (Old Icelandic gin); Latin hisco; Greek χειά, ‘hole,’ for χειϝά?.