yacht n.

Old English huntian "chase game" (transitive and intransitive), perhaps developed from hunta "hunter," and related to hentan "to seize," from Proto-Germanic *huntojan (source also of Gothic hinþan "to seize, capture," Old High German hunda "booty"), which is of uncertain origin.

Not the usual Germanic word for this, which is represented by Dutch jagen, German jagen (see yacht (n.)). General sense of "search diligently" (for anything) is recorded from c. 1200. Related: Hunted; hunting. To hunt (something) up "search for until found" is from 1791. Parlor game hunt the slipper is attested from 1766.

also jaeger, "German sharpshooter," 1776, from German Jäger, literally "huntsman," from jagen "to hunt," from Old High German jagon, related to Old Frisian jagia, Dutch jagen "to hunt," Old Norse jaga "to drive, to move to and fro" (see yacht (n.)). Applied to riflemen and sharpshooters in the German and Austrian armies. Englished as yager, yaeger from 1804.