An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/fluchen

by Friedrich Kluge

fluchen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German vluochen, Old High German fluohhôn, ‘to curse, imprecate,’ with an existent strong participle Old High German farfluohhan, ‘depraved, wicked’; compare Old Saxon farflôken, ‘accursed’; Gothic flôkan (not *flêkan), strong verb, ‘to lament,’ Dutch vloeken, ‘to curse, execrate,’ In English and Scandinavian the Teutonic root flôk does not occur. Gothic flôkan, ‘to lament, bewail,’ shows the earlier meaning of the cognates; the root flôk, from pre-Teutonic plâg, may be connected with Latin plangere, ‘to strike, mourn,’ Greek root, πλαγ in πλήσσω (ἐξεπλάγη), ‘to strike.’ The Latin verb facilitates the transition of the meaning ‘to strike,’ ‘to lament,’ then ‘to imprecate, curse.’ —