An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Netz

by Friedrich Kluge

Netz, neuter, ‘net,’ from the equivalent Middle High German nętze, Old High German nęzzi, neuter; corresponding to Old Saxon nęt (and nętti), neuter, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, and English net, Gothic nati, Old Icelandic net, neuter, ‘net’; a common Teutonic term, to which the graded Scandinavian nȯt, ‘large net,’ is allied. The etymology is obscure; it is scarcely allied to naß, Teutonic *nata-; it is rather connected with Nessel, with which it may be based on a pre-Teutonic root nū̆d, ‘to sew, knit.’ Compare also Latin nassa, ‘creel, net.’