Thanken

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic word meaning to express gratitude or appreciation to a person for a kindness or favour received
2. An obsolete verb for showing thanks to someone, acknowledging a benefit they have given
3. To convey one's gratitude to another person, a usage now found mainly in older English writing

Etymology: The original sense of this family of words was closer to "thought" than to gratitude. Old English "þanc" meant thought, goodwill, and favour, and "þancian" was the verb built on it, meaning to feel or show that kind of goodwill. Gratitude was one of those goodwill senses that gradually narrowed into the main meaning. The pair is closely related to "think", which comes from the same Germanic stem. "Thanken" is the Middle English form of the verb, with the older "-en" infinitive ending. That ending dropped away as the bare form "thank" became standard, so the word survives today only in archaic or dialectal use. Its Dutch and German cousins, "danken" and "danken", keep the same root and the same sense of being indebted.