An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Nuß
Nuß (1.), feminine, ‘nut,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German nuȥ, feminine, neither cognate with nor borrowed from Latin nux (nucem). It is rather a genuine Teutonic world, originally with initial h; compare Old Icelandic hnot, feminine, Anglo-Saxon hnutu, feminine, English nut, Dutch noot (Gothic *hnuts, feminine, is wanting). The genuine Teutonic cognates point to a pre-Teutonic knud-, which appears with the same sense in Old Irish cnú.
Nuß (2.), feminine, ‘blow, push,’ Modern High German simply; only apparently identical with the preceding word (compare Dachtel); historically, however, it is probably allied to Gothic hnutô, ‘prick.’