An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/hoch

by Friedrich Kluge

hoch, adjective, ‘high, lofty, proud, dear,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hôch, Old High German hôh, adjective; a common Teutonic adjective with the meaning ‘high’; compare Gothic hauhs, Old Icelandic hár (for hauhr), Anglo-Saxon heáh, English high, Dutch hoog, Old Saxon hôh; Teutonic hauha-, from the uupermutated pre-Teutonic káuko- (the weakest vowel stage of the stem is exhibited by the cognate Hügel). Old Teutonic possessed a masculine and neuter substantive formed from the adjective in the sense of ‘hill’ (type kaukó-s); compare Old Icelandic haugr (from which English how in proper names was borrowed), Middle High German houc (-ges), to which such proper names as Donnershaugk are akin. Gothic hiuhma, masculine, ‘heap, crowd,’ seems also allied. In the non-Teutonic languages it is rightly compared with Lithuanian kaukará, ‘hill, height,’ kaúkas, ‘boil’ (Middle High German hübel, masculine, ‘hill,’ is connected with Lithuanian kùpstas, ‘tump,’ as well as to Old High German hofar, Anglo-Saxon hofer, ‘hump’).