20kWEB: Origin of the word Dank. Etymology of the word Dank. Etymology Dictionary.

DANK, moist, damp. (Scand.) In the allit. Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, l. 313, we find 'the dewe that is dannke;' and in l. 3750, we have it as a sb. in the phrase 'one the danke of the dewe,' i.e. in the moisture of the dew. And cf. 'Dropis as dew or a danke rayne;' Destruction of Troy, 2368. It also occurs as a verb, in Specimens of Lyric Poetry, ed. Wright; see Specimens of Early Eng. ed. Morris and Skeat, sect. IV d. l. 28: 'deawes donketh the dounes,' i.e. dews moisten the downs. [The connection with dew in all four passages should be noticed.]—Swed. dial. dank, a moist place in a field, marshy piece of ground; Rietz. + Icel. dökk, a pit, pool; where dökk stands for dönk, by the assimilation so common in Icelandic, and dönk again represents an older danku. ¶ It is commonly assumed that dank is another form of damp, but, being of Scand. origin, it is rather to be associated with Swed. dagg, dew, and Icel. dögg, dew; and, indeed, it seems to be nothing else than a nasalised form of the prov. Eng. dag, dew. See Daggle.

Etymology Dictionary

Origin of the word DANK. Etymology of the word DANK.