schenken

Etymology

From Middle Dutch schenken, from Old Dutch skenken, from Proto-West Germanic *skankijan, from Proto-Germanic *skankijaną.

The verb, which originally was weak, became strong in the early modern period by analogy with related class 3 strong verbs such as drinken. Cognate with English shink (“to pour”), dialectal English skink (“to pour, give as a present”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsxɛŋ.kə(n)/

• Audio (Belgium):

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• Audio (Netherlands):

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• Rhymes: -ɛŋkən

Verb

schenken

1. to give as a present, to gift
   • Andreas Nicolai de Saint-Aubain, tr. A.F. Wehlburg, Tafereelen uit den tijd van Christiaan II, koning van Denemarken, Volume 1 (Amsterdam 1849), p. 82-83:

     Hij zag den reus en kocht hem van zijnen pleegvader [...] want reuzen en dwergen waren in dien tijd zeer gezocht door de voorname heren, en er was niets bijzonders in zijn doen en laten, dat de waardigheid van eenen reus konde benadelen. Aslak [de reus] vond ook spoedig eenen kooper, doch deze verveelde hij zeer spoedig, omdat hij trotsch en zwaarmoedig was, en niet in staat de taal van het land te leeren. Nu schonk zijn heer hem weg aan den Deenschen edelman, heer Hans Bilde, die juist op de terugreis naar Denemarken was.

     He saw the giant and bought him from his foster father [...] because giants and dwarfs were in that time much in demand among distinguished gentlemen, and there was nothing special in his habits, that could harm the dignity of a giant. Aslak [the giant] also soon found a buyer, but he very quickly bored him, because he was proud and melancholy, and not able to learn the language of the land. Now his lord gifted him away to the Danish nobleman, sir Hans Bilde, who was just on his way home to Denmark.

2. to pour from a vessel
   • Gerdina Hendrika Kurtz, Het Haarlemsche stadsrecht van 1245 (Haarlem 1945), p. 20:

     Als iemand een herberg binnengaat, om daar te drinken, dien moet de wijntapper den wijn schenken volgens zekere verschuldigde maat,

     If someone enters an inn, in order to drink there, the wine-server must pour him the wine in accordance to a certain obligatory measure ...

Etymology

From Middle High German schenken, from Old High German scenken, from Proto-West Germanic *skankijan (“to pour, serve”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛŋkən/, [ˈʃɛŋ.kŋ̍], [-kən]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: schen‧ken

Verb

schenken (weak, third-person singular present schenkt, past tense schenkte, past participle geschenkt, auxiliary haben)

1. to give as a present, to gift

   Synonyms: geben, spendieren, bescheren, verehren, zuwenden, zum Geschenk machen

   Ich schenke meiner Tochter ein Kätzchen zum Geburtstag.

   I’m giving my daughter a kitten for her birthday.

2. to spare one(self) (something)

   Synonym: ersparen

   Joseph hätte sich die beschwerliche weite Reise gern geschenkt, doch er wagte es nicht, ungehorsam zu sein.

   Joseph would have gladly spared himself the long, onerous journey, but he didn't dare to be disobedient.

3. (transitive, formal) to pour from a vessel, to serve [with accusative ‘something’ (usually required nowadays) and in (+ accusative) ‘in(to) something’]

   Synonyms: schütten, gießen, einschütten, eingießen, einschenken, ausschenken

   Sie schenkte den Wein in zwei Gläser.

   She poured the wine in two glasses.

Further reading

• “schenken” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schenken” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schenken” in Duden online
• “schenken” in OpenThesaurus.de