English
slake
Slake comes from Middle English slaken ‘to render slack, to slake’, from Proto-West Germanic *slak ‘weak’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *slakaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slakaz‘weak’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slak‘weak’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150slæc‘slack’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150sleacian
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slaken‘to render slack, to slake’
- Englishearliest quotation 1485slake
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slakaz‘weak’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slak‘weak’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150slæc‘slack’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150sleacian
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slaken‘to render slack, to slake’
- Englishearliest quotation 1485slake
Earliest quotation: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Primum: “wherfor the quene waxed wroth with sir Launcelot /…”
The story
Unrelated to, but possibly influenced by, the Old Norse sløkkva (‘to extinguish’), compare Swedish släcka in the phrase släcka sin törst (‘quench one's thirst’), släcka elden (‘put out the fire’), and släckt kalk (‘slaked lime’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg- ‘to tire out, slacken’
release, relaxation, relish, languish, languid
through Proto-Germanic *slakaz ‘weak’
through Old English slæc ‘slack’
Another origin of slake
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵʰ-‘to lick’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slikkōnąuncertain
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slikkōnuncertain
- Old High Germanc. 750–1050*slikkonuncertain
- Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350sleckenuncertain
- Germanc. 1650–presentschlecken‘to lick’uncertain
- Englishtodayslake
Probably connected with Icelandic sleikja, "to lick", and German schlecken (‘to lick’).
Today it means
verb To satisfy (thirst, or other desires).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *slakaz / slake