An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/henken

by Friedrich Kluge

henken, vb., ‘to hang, suspend,’ from MidHG. and OHG. hęnken, prop. a variant of OHG. and MidHG. hęngen (k is Goth. gj). To these two words, varying in sound, different meanings were attached; comp. MidHG. hęnken, ‘to hang up,’ hęngen, ‘to hang down (one's head),’ espec. ‘to give a horse the reins.’ Yet MidHG. hęngen is also used in the sense of hęnken, ‘to execute by hanging.’