An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Ziege

by Friedrich Kluge

Ziege, f., ‘she-goat,’ from the equiv. MidHG. zige, OHG. ziga, f.; a Franc. word, which in the MidHG. period passed also into LG. In UpG., Geiß, with which Ziege is probably connected etymologically; for Goth. gait-, ‘goat,’ may have had a graded variant *gitô-, by metathesis *tigô-. The latter form must also have been current in pre-historic times, as is proved by the AS. diminut. tiččen, equiv. to OHG. zicchî (see Zicke), and the form kittîn, obtained by metathesis, equiv. to OHG. chizzî. In East MidG. Hitte and Hippe are used for Ziege; in Alem. and Bav. and in Thuring. Ziege is the current term.