Etymology Dictionary

TAKE,  to lay hold of, seize, grasp, get.  (Scand.)   M. E. taken, pt. t. tok, pp. taken, Chaucer, C. T. 572; pp. takë, id. 2649.   Not a true A. S. word, but borrowed from Norse.—Icel. taka, pt. t. tók, pp. tekinn, to lay hold of, seize, grasp (a very common word); Swed. taga, O. Swed. taka; Dan. tage. + Goth. tekan, pt. t. taitok, pp. tekans, to touch.   β. The Goth. tekan is certainly cognate with Lat. tangere (pt. t. te-tig-i, pp. tac-tus = tag-tus), to touch; and the identity of the initial sounds shews that an initial s has been lost; see Curtius, i. 269.   Hence the root is ✔STAG, to touch, grasp, thrust, sting, stick or pierce; whence also Gk. τε-ταγ-ών, having taken, Skt. tij, to be sharp, and A. S. stician, to sting.   See Stake and Stick (1).   Der. tak-ing, tak-ing-ly.   Allied words are stake, stick (1); also tack, tache, tag, tack-le, attach, at-tack, de-tach; tact, tang-ent, con-tact, in-tact, &c.; see under tangent. [†]

ADDENDA

It may be observed that M.E. taken occurs both in Layamon, l. 23688, and in the Ormulum, l. 85; perhaps the earliest example is tacen, infin., in the A.S. Chron. an. 1127; ed. Earle, p. 256.