An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/blinken
blinken, verb, ‘to gleam, twinkle, blink,’ first occurs in Modern High German; related to blank, blink, adjective; compare Dutch blinken, Middle English blinken, English to blink. The root may be identical with that of bleichen (blîkan), the i-root becoming nasalised; blinken would then be regarded as a verb of the e classical and blank a secondary form.