An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/toben

by Friedrich Kluge

toben, verb, ‘to fume, rage, bluster,’ from the equivalent Middle High German toben, Old High German tôbên (tobôn), weak verb; corresponding to the equivalent Anglo-Saxon dofian, ‘delirare’ (gedof, ‘fury, rage, madness’). Based on the Teutonic root dub, ‘to be mentally confused, to be deafened,’ from which taub and dumm are also derived. Whether we have to assume on account of Old High German tûfar, tûbar, ‘silly, foolish,’ an Aryan root dhū̆p, dhū̆q, is dubious; perhaps Lithuanian dúkti, ‘to grow mad,’ dúkis, ‘fury, madness,’ are primitively allied to the cognates of toben.