The story
- Proto-Germanic*sneganą
- Proto-Germanic*snakaną
- Proto-West Germanic*snakan
- Proto-West Germanic*snakō
- Old Englishsnaca
- Middle Englishsnake
- English todaysnake
From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-West Germanic *snakō (“slider, snake”), from *snakan (“to creep, slide”), related to Old High German snahhan (“to sneak, slide”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *snēkô (“creeper, crawler”). Cognate with German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Danish snog (“grass snake”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk snåk (“viper, adder”), Faroese snákur (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.