An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/recken

by Friedrich Kluge

recken, verb, ‘to stretch, rack, reach forth,’ from Middle High German ręcken, Old High German ręcchen, ‘to stretch out, extend,’ corresponding to Dutch rekken, ‘to stretch out,’ whence English to rack is borrowed, Gothic uf-rakjan, ‘to stretch out,’ to which Gothic rahtôn, ‘to proffer.’ From Teutonic is derived Italian recare, ‘to bring.’ The assumed direct connection between the common Teutonic verb and Gothic rikan, ‘to collect,’ literally ‘to scrape together,’ must on account of the meaning be abandoned in favour of its relation to Lithuanian rążau, rążyti, ‘to stretch,’ Latin por-rigo, ‘I stretch,’ and Greek ὀρέγειν, ‘to stretch.’