An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schlucken

by Friedrich Kluge

schlucken, verb, ‘to gulp down, swallow,’ from Middle High German slucken, ‘to swallow, gulp down, sob’; Old High German *slucchôn may be inferred from sluccho, slûhho (hh as in schluchzen?), masculine ‘gormandiser, glutton.’ Allied to Middle High German slûchen, ‘to swallow, gulp down,’ and slûch, ‘gullet, throat; sot, glutton’ (compare Modern High German Schlauchmaul). The Teutonic root slū̆k, not allied to schlecken, originated in Aryan slū̆g, which has been identified in Greek as λυγ (for σλυγ); compare λυγγάνομαι, λύζω, ‘to have the hiccup, sob,’ λύγδην, ‘sobbingly,’ λύγξ (λυγγός), ‘violent sobbing, hiccup.’ In Old Irish the root appears with initial s as slug, ‘to devour.’ Akin also to Schlauch.