An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/suchen

by Friedrich Kluge

suchen, verb, ‘to seek, search,’ from the equivalent Middle High German suochen (süechen), Old High German suohhan (suohhen); a common Teutonic verb, properly strong. Compare Gothic sôkjan, Anglo-Saxon sêcan, English to seek (and to beseech), Dutch zoeken, Old Saxon sôkian, ‘to seek.’ The strong verbal root sôk, from Aryan sâg, has primitively cognates in Greek ἡγέομας ‘to lead,’ and especially in Latin sâgire, ‘to trace out,’ and Old Irish sáigim, ‘to seek.’ To these are allied the cognates of Sache.