An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/süß
süß, adjective, ‘sweet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German süeȥe, adjective (also suoȥe, swuoȥe, adverb), Old High German suoȥi (swuoȥi), adjective, a common Teutonic term, occurring also in the other Aryan languages. Compare Old Saxon swôti, Dutch zoet, Anglo-Saxon swête, English sweet, Old Icelandic sœ́tr, Gothic *swôtus (for which sū̆ts is found), ‘sweet.’ The Teutonic swôt-u, from Aryan swâd-ú, is based on an Aryan root swā̆d; compare Sanscrit svad, ‘sweet, delicious,’ and the root svad, ‘to taste nice’ (svâd, ‘to be rejoiced’), Greek ἡδύς, ‘sweet,’ and ἥδομαι, ‘I rejoice’ (ἡδονή, ‘pleasure,’ ἁνδάνω, ‘to please’), Latin suâvis for *suâdvis, ‘sweet’ (also suâdere, ‘to advise,’ literally ‘to make tasty, pleasant’?). In the Teutonic group, Anglo-Saxon swătan, Scotch swats, ‘beer,’ may be allied; on the other hand, the primary verb corresponding to Aryan swâdú-, ‘sweet,’ was lost at an early period in Teutonic.