An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/schmecken
schmecken, vb., ‘to taste, savour, relish,’ from MidHG. smęcken, smacken, ‘to try by tasting; savour, smell, scent; perceive’; the meaning ‘to smell’ is still partly retained by Alem. and Bav. OHG. smęcchen, only ‘to taste’ (trans. and intrans.), smacchên, ‘to smack of.’ Comp. OHG. and MidHG. smac, m., ‘taste,’ Du. smaak, AS. smœc (cc), ‘taste,’ smeččan, ‘to taste,’ E. smack, vb. and subst. In OIc. and Goth. there are no corresponding vbs. from the Teut. root smak (pre-Teut. smā̆g), with which Lith. smagùs, ‘agreeable,’ lit. ‘pliant,’ has wrongly been connected as cognate terms.