English
drink
Drink comes from Middle English drinken ‘to drink’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *drinkaną.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drinkaną‘to drink’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*drinkan‘to drink’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150drincan‘to drink’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drinken‘to drink’
- Englishearliest quotation 1579drink
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drinkaną‘to drink’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*drinkan‘to drink’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150drincan‘to drink’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drinken‘to drink’
- Englishearliest quotation 1579drink
Earliest quotation: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.: “[…] There liues ſhee with the bleſſed Gods in…”
The story
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’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰrenǵ- ‘to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp’
through Proto-Germanic *drinkaną ‘to drink’
through Middle English drinken ‘to drink’
Another origin of drink
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰrenǵ-‘to draw into one's mouth, sip, gulp’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drinkaną‘to drink’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*drunkizreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*drunkireconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150drynċ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500drink
- Englishtodaysame form
Today it means
verb To consume (a liquid) through the mouth.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *drinkaną / drink