An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/saufen
saufen, verb, ‘to drink’ (of beasts), from Middle High German sûfen, Old High German sûfan, ‘to sip, lap, drink’; Middle Low German sûpen, Anglo-Saxon sûpan, and Old Icelandic súpa have the same sense; compare further Dutch zuipen, ‘to drink,’ English to sup (the verb to sip seems to be connected with Gothic *sŭpjan). For the Teutonic root sū̆p, which has not yet been found in other groups, see Soff and Suppe; compare further seufzen.