An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/ringen

by Friedrich Kluge

ringen, verb, ‘to encircle; wring, wrestle, strive,’ from Middle High German ringen, ‘to move to and fro, exert oneself, wind,’ Old High German ringan, from an earlier *wringan; compare Dutch wringen, ‘to wring, squeeze,’ Anglo-Saxon wringan, English to wring; Gothic *wriggan is implied by wruggô, ‘snare.’ The root wring, identical with the root wrank (see renken), meant originally ‘to turn in a winding manner, move with effort.’ With this are connected Modern High German Ranke, English wrong, Middle English wrang, ‘bent, perverted, wrong’ (Old Icelandic rangr, ‘bent, wrong,’ Modern Dutch wrang, ‘sour, bitter’), and English to wrangle. Perhaps würgen (root wrg) is allied; English to ring is, however, not connected, since it comes from Anglo-Saxon hringan.