An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/trinken

by Friedrich Kluge

trinken, verb, ‘to drink,’ from the equivalent Middle High German trinken, Old High German trinchan; a common Teutonic strong verb; compare Gothic drigkan, Anglo-Saxon drincan, English to drink, Dutch drinken, Old Saxon drinkan. From Old Teutonic are derived the Romance cognates, Italian trincare, French trinquer, ‘to touch glasses.’ The strong verbal root drink (Aryan dhreng) is not found in non-Teutonic; on the other hand, the Aryan root pô, ‘to drink’ (compare Sanscrit pâ, Greek πω-, Latin pô-tus, &c.), is wanting in Teutonic — Compare Trank, Trunk.