Etymology: The original stem is perhaps *ganron-, the d being a euphonic insertion between n and r as in thunder < Old English þunor. Outside of English the word is found only in Dutch, Low German and South German gander, Middle Low German ganre; the other Germanic languages show different formations, as German gänserich (earlier ganser), Old Norse gasse, Swedish gåse. Although used as the masculine of goose n. (Old English gós < Old Germanic *gans- ) there is some doubt whether it is etymologically cognate with that word. While goose represents an Old Aryan *ghans- with palatal gh- , it is possible that Old English gan(d)ra may be cognate with Lithuanian gàndras stork; this would imply a root beginning with velar gh- , to which may also be referred Old English ganot gannet n., Old High German ganaȥȥo, ganȥo (Middle High German ganȥe, also genz), Dutch gent, all meaning ‘gander’. Compare ganta, said by Pliny N.H. x. xxii. 27 to be the German name of a small white goose, Old French gante, jante, gente, wild goose, Provençal ganta wild goose (in the modern dialects variously used for ‘wild goose’, ‘black stork’, and ‘heron’). It has been conjectured that gander may have been originally the special name of some kind of water-bird, and that its association with goose is accidental, perhaps arising from the alliterative phrase ‘goose and gander’.

Etymology: < gander n.