An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Arche

by Friedrich Kluge

Arche, f., ‘ark,’ from MidHG., arche (also arke), OHG. arahha (also archa), f., ‘Noah's ark.’ The ModHG. form with ch (instead of k) seems to point to Upper Germany (Luther’s Bible has Noahs Kasten); OHG. buoh-arahha, ‘book-chest,’ MidHG. arche, ‘chest, money-chest.’ It corresponds to Du. ark, ‘Noah’s ark,’ AS. earc, m., earce, f., ‘chest, covenant, ark, box,’ E. ark, OIc. ǫrk, f., ‘chest, coffin, Noah’s ark,’ Goth. arka, f., ‘box, money-box, Noah's ark.’ This widely diffused word was borrowed at an early period from the equiv. Lat. (also Romance) arca, which, as the meanings of the Teut. group coextensive with those of the Lat. indicate, was not perhaps naturalised on the introduction of Christianity, to which the more recent meaning of ‘Noah's ark’ may refer. Both the word and the thing had probably at the beginning of our era found their way to the Teutons with Lat. cista. See Kiste and Sack.