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An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/strecken

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An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, S (1891)
by Friedrich Kluge, translated by John Francis Davis
strecken
Friedrich Kluge2510254An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, S — strecken1891John Francis Davis

strecken, vb., ‘to stretch, extend,’ from MidHG. stręcken, OHG. stręcchen, wk. vb., ‘to straighten, make tense, extend, stretch’; corresponds to Du. strekken, AS. stręččęan, E. to stretch. The corresponding adj. strack (comp. also OHG. stracchên, ‘to be extended’), points to a Teut. root strak (for srak, a variant of rak in recken?), which is perhaps connected with the root of Strang and strenge. It is doubtful whether the HG. cognates are borrowed from Ital. straccare, ‘to exhaust, fatigue.’