An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Gaukler

by Friedrich Kluge

Gaukler, m., ‘buffoon, juggler, impostor,’ from MidHG. goukelœre, OHG. goukalâri, gouggalâri (k from gg, see Hake), ‘magician, conjuror’; from MidHG. goukeln, OHG. goukolôn, gouggolôn, ‘to deal in magic, play the fool.’ Apparently allied to OHG. gougarôn, MidHG. gougern, ‘to roam about,’ also to MidHG. gogeln, ‘to act without restraint, flutter about,’ gogel, adj., ‘unrestrained, exuberant,’ giege, m., ‘fool, dupe’; Du. goochelaar, ‘buffoon.’ The cognates point to a Teut. root gug, geug, gaug, ‘to move here and there in a curious fashion like a clown or conjuror’?. Considering the numerous correspondences, it cannot be maintained that Gaukler was derived from Lat. joculari, or from Gr. καυκίον, ‘small dish or bowl’; both these explanations are opposed by the phonetic relations of the words; in the case of the Gr. term there is the further difficulty that we do not know how it was borrowed, and also the fact that no verb ‘to juggle’ occurs in Gr.