An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Sohn

by Friedrich Kluge

Sohn, masculine, ‘son,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German sun, earlier Old High German sunu, masculine; a common Teutonic, and further a common Aryan word (compare Tochter, Vater, and Mutter); corresponding to Gothic sunus, Anglo-Saxon sunu, English son, Dutch zoon, Old Saxon sunu. To these Sanscrit sûnú; Zend hunu, Old Slovenian synŭ, and Lithuanian sûnús, ‘son,’ are primitively allied. The root sū̆ (compare Sanscrit sû, ‘to give birth to’; see Sau), contained in this stem sū̆-nú-, also forms the base of Greek υἱός (dialectic υἱύς), ‘son,’ which points to Aryan sū̆-yú- (suiw-). Compare Schnur.