An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Eisbein

by Friedrich Kluge

Eisbein, neuter, a North German word, from the equivalent Low German îsbên, Middle Low German îsbên, ‘hip-bone’; compare Dutch ijsbeen, ischbeen, ‘the socket of the hip-bone,’ Anglo-Saxon îsbân, masculine. The first part of the compound seems to contain a substantive îsa-, ‘gait, walking,’ which Sanscrit ẽša, masculine, ‘hastening on,’ resembles.