An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/prickeln

by Friedrich Kluge

prickeln, verb, ‘to prick, goad,’ Modern High German only, properly a Low German word, of which the strictly High German variant pfrëcken is once recorded in late Middle High German. Compare Dutch prikkelen (prikken), ‘to prick, stitch,’ Anglo-Saxon prician, English to prick, and prickle, equivalent to Dutch prikkel; these words are based on an Old Teutonic root prik, which, in spite of the initial p, cannot have been borrowed.