Английский Этимологический словарь - milk (n.)

- O.E. meoluc (W.Saxon), milc (Anglian), both related to melcan "to milk." The noun is from P.Gmc. *meluk-; the v. is from P.Gmc. *melkanan, from PIE base *melg- "wiping, stroking" (from the hand motion in milking an animal). Sense of "exploit for profit" is first found 1526. Milk chocolate is first recorded 1723; milk shake is first recorded 1889, for a variety of creations, but the modern version is only from the 1930s; milky way is c.1380, a loan-translation of L. via lactea. Milksop is used as a surname 13c., also applied early to the infant Christ. To cry over spilt milk is first attested 1836 in writing of Canadian humorist Thomas C. Haliburton.