An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/wackeln

by Friedrich Kluge

wackeln, verb, ‘to shake, rock, totter,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German wackeln (and also wacken). An intensive form from Middle High German wagen, Old High German wagôn, ‘to move, totter, shake’; compare Dutch twaggelen, ‘to shake,’ Anglo-Saxon wagian, also English to wag (from Anglo-Saxon *waggian). These cognates are certainly more closely related to Modern High German wiegen (Teutonic root weg, from the Aryan root wē̆gh) than to the cognates of wanken.