Etymology Dictionary

BEACH,  the ground rising from the sea.  (Scand.)   Not found in early authors.  Rich. quotes from Hackluyt, Voyages, i. 355.—Swed. backe, an ascent. + Dan. bakke, rising ground. + Icel. bakki, a ridge; also a bank of a river.   The kk in Icel. stands for nk; and the word is really another form of bank.   See Bank.   Der. beach, verb; beach-y. [†]

ADDENDA

Etym. doubtful.  The following is curious; Trevisa, tr. of Higden, vii. 135, says that Canute placed his chair on the 'banke of the see,' Lat. in littore maris.   Cf. 'we haled your barke ouer a barre of beach or pebble stones into a small riuer;' Hackluyt, Voyages, i. 355.   Ihre particularly notes that the O. Swed. backe means not only 'hill,' but 'bank of a stream;' Rietz explains Icel. bakki by (1) bank (2) brink of a stream.   I still incline to the opinion that it is a 16th cent. corruption of the Scand. word for 'bank.'   Halliwell gives 'baich, a languet [tongue] of land, Ray;' but I cannot find it in Ray's Glossary.   The Shropsh. baitch or batch means a valley, and is the same as M.E. bæch in Stratmann; this can hardly be the same word, the sense being quite unsuitable.