An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Wippe

by Friedrich Kluge

Wippe, feminine, ‘critical point, see-saw, seat (of a swing), crane,’ Modern High German only, borrowed from Low German; compare Dutch wippen, ‘to let fly, jerk, rock.’ The genuine High German form is Old High German and Middle High German wipf, ‘swing, quick movement’; in Middle High German also wîfen, strong verb, ‘to swing’ (see weifen). The Teutonic root wī̆p, ‘to move with a rocking motion,’ contained in these cognates (and in Wipfel), is based on pre-Teutonic wī̆b, whence also Latin vibrare, ‘to vibrate’; allied to the earlier Aryan variant wī̆p, in Sanscrit vip, ‘to tremble,’ Old High German weibôn, ‘to totter.’