An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/schlingen

by Friedrich Kluge

schlingen, vb., ‘to wind, twine, twist, sling,’ from MidHG. slingen, OHG. slingan, ‘to wind, entwine, swing to and fro,’ MidHG. also ‘to creep,’ OHG. ‘to move’; comp. Du. slingeren, ‘to hurl, swing,’ AS. slingan, E. to slung, OIc. slyngva, ‘to throw’; Goth. *slingwan (or rather *sleihwan) is wanting. The prim. idea of the root slingw, to which both schlenkern and Schlange are allied, was ‘a revolving, swinging motion.’ The Teut. root slingw (*slinhw) originated in pre-Teut. slenk, as is indicated by Lith. slínkti, ‘to creep’ (OSlov. sląkŭ, ‘crooked’?). — schlingen (1.), vb., ‘to twine, wind.’ See the preceding article.

schlingen (2.), vb., ‘to swallow, engulf,’ a MidG. term introduced by Luther, for (UpG.) MidHG. slinden, OHG. slintan, ‘to devour’; in MidG. nd changes to ng, as, e.g., Thuring. linge, ‘Linde’ (linden), gebungen, gebunden (bound), schlung, Schlund (gullet). Comp. Goth. fra-slindan, ‘to devour,’ Du. slinden, ‘to devour’; further corresponding vbs. are wanting in OTeut. The Teut. 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); comp. hinunter würgen, ‘to swallow.’