Etymology
1. O.E.
drincan "to drink," also "to swallow up, engulf" (class III strong verb; past tense
dranc, pp.
druncen), from P.Gmc.
*drengkan. Not found outside Gmc. The noun meaning "beverage, alcoholic beverage" was also in O.E. To
drink like a fish is first recorded 1747.
2. From Middle English drinken, from Old English drincan (“to drink, swallow up, engulf”), from Proto-West Germanic *drinkan, from Proto-Germanic *drinkaną (“to drink”), of uncertain origin; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- (“to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp”), nasalised variant of *dʰreǵ- (“to draw, glide”).
3. Cognates include German trinken, Norwegian Bokmål drikke, and Italian trincare.
4. Cognates
5. Cognate with Yola drink (“to drink”), North Frisian drank, drainke, drink, drinke (“to drink”), West Frisian drinke (“to drink”), Alemannic German trénge, trenhu, trinche, tringhien, trinke (“to drink”), Bavarian dringa, trinckn, trinkhn, trinkn (“to drink”), Cimbrian trinkan, trinkhan (“to drink”), Dutch and Low German drinken (“to drink”), German and Mòcheno trinken (“to drink”), Luxembourgish drénken (“to drink”), Yiddish טרינקען (trinken, “to drink”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drikke (“to drink”), Elfdalian drikka (“to drink”), Faroese and Icelandic drekka (“to drink”), Jutish drenk (“to drink”), Norwegian Nynorsk drikka, drikke (“to drink”), Swedish dricka (“to drink”), Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌺𐌰𐌽 (drigkan, “to drink”), Vandalic drincan (“to drink”), French trinquer (“to booze, drink alcohol”), Italian trincare (“to knock back (a drink)”), Spanish trincar (“to get drunk”). See: Middle English '
drinken', Old English '
drincan', Proto-Germanic '
*drinkaną', German, old spelling '
trinken', Norwegian '
drikke', Italian '
trincare', Alemannic German '
trénge', Bavarian 'dringa', Cimbrian 'trinkan', Luxembourgish '
drénken', Elfdalian '
drikka', Norwegian, nynorsk '
drikka', Swedish '
dricka', French '
trinquer', Italian '
trincare', Spanish '
trincar'.
Verbs referencing "drink"
German, old spelling
trinken, Middle High German
trinken, Danish
drikke, Norwegian
drikke, Alemannic German
trinche, German, Pennsylvania
drinke, French
trinquer, Ido drinkar, Alemannic German
trinke, Cimbrian trinkan, Norwegian, nynorsk
drikka, Cimbrian trinkhan, Alemannic German
trénge, Alemannic German
tringhien, Alemannic German
trenhu, Sanskrit
ध्रजति, Sranan
dringi, Belize Creole jrink, Bavarian dringa.