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From Middle English thank (“gratitude; expression of gratitude, thanks; attractiveness; commendation, praise; God’s grace; goodwill; merit, reward; mind, thought”), from Old English þanc, þonc (“gratitude; expression of gratitude, thanks; favour, grace; mind, thought; pleasure, satisfaction”), from Proto-Germanic *þankaz (“gratitude; expression of gratitude, thanks; mind, thought; remembrance”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to perceive; to think”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tonk (“thanks”), West Frisian tanke (“thanks”), Cimbrian dånke (“thanks”), Dutch dank (“thanks”), German Dank (“thanks”), Vilamovian dank, daŋk, daonk (“thanks”), Yiddish דאַנק (dank, “thanks”), Danish tak (“thanks”), Elfdalian tokk (“thanks”), Faroese takk, tøkk (“thanks”), Icelandic takk, þökk (“thanks”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk takk (“thanks”), Swedish tack (“thanks”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐍃 (þagks, “thanks”), Vandalic *þank- (“thanks”); also Latin tongeō (“to know”). For the think — thank relation, compare typologically Russian призна́тельный (priznátelʹnyj) (< знать (znatʹ).

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tóng-o-s Proto-Germanic *þankaz Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *þankōną Proto-West Germanic *þankōn Old English þancian Middle English thanken English thank From Middle English thanken (“to express gratitude, give thanks; to congratulate, rejoice with, or wish joy to; to extol; to hold responsible for”), from Old English þancian, þoncian (“to thank”), from Proto-West Germanic *þankōn, from Proto-Germanic *þankōną (“to thank”), from *þankaz (see etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming infinitives of verbs from nouns). Cognates Cognate with Scots thank (“to thank”), Saterland Frisian tonkje (“to thank”), Cimbrian dånkan (“to thank”), Dutch, German, and Luxembourgish danken (“to thank”), Vilamovian danka, daŋka, daonka (“to thank”), Yiddish דאַנקען (danken, “to thank”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål takke (“to thank”), Faroese takka (“to thank”), Icelandic þakka (“to thank”), Swedish tacka (“to thank”).