An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Hinken

by Friedrich Kluge

Hinken, verb, ‘to limp, walk lame, fit badly,’ from the equivalent Middle High German hinken, Old High German hinchan; a word peculiar to High German, if Scandinavian hokra, ‘to crawl,’ is not connected with it (Anglo-Saxon hęllehinca, ‘devil,’ is found). Root hink, from Aryan kheng (kh as in haben, from the root khabh, in Latin habere; compare farther Nagel), based on the Sanscrit root khañj, ‘to lump’; allied also to the equivalent Greek σκάζω for s-khṅgjô, with s prefixed.