An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zahn

by Friedrich Kluge

Zahn, masculine, ‘tooth,’ from the equivalent Middle High German zan, zant (d), Old High German zan, zand, masculine; common to Teutonic and also to Aryan. Compare Old Saxon and Dutch tand, Anglo-Saxon tôþ (from *tanþ), English tooth, Gothic tunþus. Teutonic tanþ-, tunþ- (from Aryan dont-, dnt-), is primitively allied to Latin dens (stem dent-), Greek ὁδούς (stem ὀδοντ-), Sanscrit dat (nominative singular dan), danta, Lithuanian dantìs, Old Irish dét, ‘tooth.’ The Aryan primitive stem dont- (dnt-) is in form the present participle of the root ed, ‘to eat,’ with apocope of the initial vowel (see essen); hence Zahn is literally ‘the eating organ’ (for the Teutonic suffix of the present participle -and-, -und-, see Feind, Freund, and Heiland). To this word Zinne is allied.