An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Haut

by Friedrich Kluge

Haut, f., ‘hide, skin, cuticle,’ from MidHG., and OHG. hût, f., ‘hide’; ModDu. huid, AS. hŷd, f., E. hide, Scand. hûð, f.; the OTeut. word for ‘hide’ (Goth. *hûþs, gen., *hûdais, is by chance not recorded), from pre-Teut. kûtí-s, f.; it is Lat. cŭtis (for the gradation of û to ŭ, see laut and Sohn); comp. Gr. κύτος, n., ‘skin, covering’; the root has a prefix s in Gr. σκῦτος, n., ‘skin, leather,’ Lat. scû-tum, ‘shield,’ σκῦ-λον, ‘skin, arms stripped of a slain enemy.’ Hence the dental in OHG. hût, Lat. cutis, would be a suffix merely; for s-ku as a root meaning ‘to cover, hide,’ see under Scheune, Scheuer. The E. vb. to hide, from AS. hŷdan, may belong to the same root with an abstract dental suffix *hûdi-, ‘covering,’ hûdjan, ‘to envelop.’ Yet traces exist, as may be seen under Hütte, of a root hud from kudh, ‘to veil,’ in the non-Teut. languages.