stincan

From Proto-West Germanic *stinkwan.

stincan

1. to give off a smell

• Middle Dutch: stinken
  • Dutch: stinken
    • Afrikaans: stink
    • Negerhollands: stink
    • → Sranan Tongo: tingi
      • → Saramaccan: tíngi
  • Limburgish: stinke

• “stinkan”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

From Proto-West Germanic *stinkwan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstin.kɑn/, [ˈstiŋ.kɑn]

stincan

1. to smell (give off a scent; intransitive)
   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Oleō: "iċ stince swōte."

     Oleo: "I smell sweet."

   • late 9th century, Old English Martyrology

     Þā āhlēop sē līchama sōna upp of þām wætre and þæt hēafod on ōðerre stōwe, and sē līchama stanc and þæt hēafod swā swōte swā rosan blostma and līlian.

     Then the body suddenly jumped out of the water, along with the head in another place, and the body and the head both smelled as sweet as a blossom of roses and lilies.

2. to stink (smell bad; intransitive)
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, John 11:39

     Sē Hǣlend cwæþ, "Dōþ on weġ þone stān." Þā cwæþ Martha tō him, "Dryhten, nū hē stincþ: hē wæs for fēower dagum dēad."

     Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Then Martha said, "Lord, by now he's going to stink: he's been dead for four days."

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, Lives of Saints

     Þā hālgan wurdon ġebrōhte tō blindum cwearterne þǣr manna līc lǣgon þe wǣron ǣr ācwealde on þām cwearterne ġefyrn, þā wēollon eall maðum eġeslīċe stuncon.

     The saints were taken to a dark prison where they found the corpses of people who had long since been killed, which were swarming with maggots and stank horribly.

• ġestincan

• stenċ

• Middle English: stynken, stynkkyn, stenke, styngke, stynke, stinken
  • Scots: stink
  • English: stink