An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bengel

by Friedrich Kluge

Bengel, masculine, ‘cudgel,’ then in a figurative sense ‘rude person, blackguard,’ from Middle High German bengel, masculine, ‘cudgel.’ Compare English bangle (club), from the verb to bang, Old Icelandic banga, ‘to strike, beat,’ Low German bangen. The Teutonic stem bang-, ‘to strike,’ seems to have been nasalised from the root bâg, mentioned under baren.