An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/wirken

by Friedrich Kluge

wirken, vb., ‘to work, effect, produce,’ from the equiv. MidHG. wirken (würken), OHG. wirken (wurchen). This verb, properly strong, is common to Teut. in the forms wirkjan, wurkjan; comp. Goth. waúrkjan, AS. wyrčęan, also OSax. wirkian, Du. werken. The Teut. verbal root werk, work, to which ModHG. Werk belongs, is based on an old Aryan root werg (worg), which occurs in several dialects. With Gr. ἔργον, ‘work,’ are connected ῥέζω (for *ϝρεγιω), ‘to do, perform,’ ὄργανον, ‘instrument,’ ὄργιον, ‘sacred rite’; so too the Zend root vṛz, verez, ‘to work, toil.’ The meanings, ‘to prepare by sewing, embroidering, weaving,’ incipient in MidHG., have been preserved in ModHG. There is also in Ger. a compound derivative OHG. scuoh-wurhto, MidHG. schuochwürte, ‘shoemaker,’ whence ModHG. proper names such as Schubert, Schuchardt.