An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Fink

Fink, masculine, ‘finch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vinke, Old High German fincho, masculine; corresponds to Dutch vink, Anglo-Saxon finc, English finch, Swedish fink, Danish finke, ‘finch’; Gothic *finki-, *finkjan-, are wanting. There is a striking similarity of sound in the Romance words for ‘finch’ — Italian pincione, French pinson, to which the English dialectal forms pink, pinch, ‘finch,’ belong. Yet there is no suspicion that the Teutonic word was borrowed; the Teutonic class is probably primitively allied to the Romance word.