An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Taufe
Taufe, f., ‘baptism, christening,’ from the equiv. MidHG. toufe, OHG. toufa (toufî), f.; allied to taufen, vb., ‘to baptize, christen,’ MidHG. töufen, toufen, OHG. toufen (from *toufjan). The primary meaning of the vb. is preserved by MidHG. toufen, ‘to dip under,’ which is properly a causative of tief. Goth. daupjan, OLG. dôpian, Du. doopen, exhibit the Christian meaning, which AS. represented by fulwian (fulwiht, ‘baptism’); comp. OIc. kristna, ‘to baptize.’ In its relation to the history of civilisation taufen is as difficult to determine as Heide (which see). It cannot be positively affirmed whether the MidEurop. term daupjan “has been restricted in meaning solely because the Goths, who were first to receive Christianity, rendered the Gr. word βαπτίζειν by the corresponding daupjan; this word, as the designation of the first sacrament, was then adopted from them (with Heide, Kirche, Pfaffe, and Teufel) by the Western Teutons, and was so firmly rooted among the latter that the AS. missionaries could no longer think of supplanting it by their corresponding verb fulwian.” Perhaps, however, the OTeut. daupjan had even in the heathen acquired a ritual sense which fitted it to become the representative of the Christian-Romance baptizare (Ir. baitism).