An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/stinken

by Friedrich Kluge

stinken, verb, ‘to stink,’ from Middle High German stinken, Old High German stinchan. In Old High German and early Middle High German the verb signifies ‘to emit a smell,’ and may even mean ‘to give forth a fragrant odour’; in Middle High German the modern meaning prevails. In Anglo-Saxon too, stincan may mean ‘to emit a fragrant odour’ or ‘to stink’; compare English to stink. This West Teutonic meaning, ‘to emit a (pleasant or unpleasant) smell’ (and also ‘to perceive by smell, to scent’), can scarcely be reconciled with Gothic stigqan, ‘to push,’ and Scandinavian støkkva, ‘to leap, squirt, hasten.’ It is probably more closely connected with Greek ταγγός, ‘rancid’ (compare Greek ταῦρος, equivalent to Gothic stiur).