An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/wackeln

by Friedrich Kluge

wackeln, vb., ‘to shake, rock, totter,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. wackeln (and also wacken). An intensive form from MidHG. wagen, OHG. wagôn, ‘to move, totter, shake’; comp. Du. twaggelen, ‘to shake,’ AS. wagian, also E. to wag (from AS. *waggian). These cognates are certainly more closely related to ModHG. wiegen (Teut. root weg, from the Aryan root wē̆gh) than to the cognates of wanken.