An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schlingen

by Friedrich Kluge

schlingen, verb, ‘to wind, twine, twist, sling,’ from Middle High German slingen, Old High German slingan, ‘to wind, entwine, swing to and fro,’ Middle High German also ‘to creep,’ Old High German ‘to move’; compare Dutch slingeren, ‘to hurl, swing,’ Anglo-Saxon slingan, English to slung, Old Icelandic slyngva, ‘to throw’; Gothic *slingwan (or rather *sleihwan) is wanting. The primary idea of the root slingw, to which both schlenkern and Schlange are allied, was ‘a revolving, swinging motion.’ The Teutonic root slingw (*slinhw) originated in pre-Teutonic slenk, as is indicated by Lithuanian slínkti, ‘to creep’ (Old Slovenian sląkŭ, ‘crooked’?). — schlingen (1.), verb, ‘to twine, wind.’ See the preceding article.

schlingen (2.), verb, ‘to swallow, engulf,’ a Middle German term introduced by Luther, for (Upper German) Middle High German slinden, Old High German slintan, ‘to devour’; in Middle German nd changes to ng, as, e.g., Thuringian linge, ‘Linde’ (linden), gebungen, gebunden (bound), schlung, Schlund (gullet). Compare Gothic fra-slindan, ‘to devour,’ Dutch slinden, ‘to devour’; further corresponding verbs are wanting in Old Teutonic. The Teutonic root slind, ‘to devour,’ seems to be cognate with the root slī̆d, ‘to slide.’ See Schlitten and also Schlund. The change from schlinden to schlingen is due to connecting the word with schlingen (1); compare hinunter würgen, ‘to swallow.’