An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/hocken

by Friedrich Kluge

hocken, verb, ‘to crouch, squat,’ first recorded in Modern High German; it is, however, an archaic word, as is shown by the prevalence of the root hū̆k, hukk; compare Middle High German hûchen, ‘to duck, crouch,’ Old Icelandic húka (with a strong participle hokenn), ‘to crouch,’ Dutch huiken. Old Icelandic hokra, ‘to crawl,’ is probably not connected with this word, but with hinken.