An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Eidechse

by Friedrich Kluge

Eidechse, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German ęgedëhse, Old High German ęgidëhsa, feminine, ‘lizard’; like Eichhorn, the word has been corrupted in various ways in the other languages of the West Teutonic group, so that it is impossible to discover its primary meaning. Dutch haagdis, hagedis, ‘lizard,’ is based on haag, ‘hedge,’ in Middle Dutch eggedisse; Anglo-Saxon âþëxe, whence English ask, asker, ‘water-newt,’ is altogether obscure. The component Old High German -dëhsa, Anglo-Saxon -þëxe (to use Echsen, ‘lizards,’ in natural history as an equivalent term for Saurier, ‘Saurians,’ is a mistake due to a wrong derivation), may be connected with the Aryan root teks, ‘to make,’ which appears in Dachs; Old High German ęgi-dëhsa, literally ‘one who inspires fear’?. Compare Old High German ęgi, Gothic agis, ‘fear,’ primitively cognate with Greek ἄχος, ‘pain, sadness.’