An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/triefen

by Friedrich Kluge

triefen, verb, ‘to drop, drip, trickle,’ from Middle High German triefen, Old High German triofan, strong verb, ‘to drop’; corresponding to Old Saxon driopan, Dutch druipen, Anglo-Saxon dreópan, ‘to drop.’ To this are allied the cognates of Traufe, träufeln, and Tropfen. With the Teutonic root drū̆p (from pre-Teutonic dhrū̆b), Old Irish drucht (base druptu-), ‘dew, dewdrop,’ is also probably connected.