Deck
late Middle English: from Middle Dutch dec ‘covering, roof, cloak’, dekken ‘to cover’. Originally denoting canvas used to make a covering (especially on a ship), the term came to mean the covering itself, later denoting a solid surface serving as roof and floor.
wiktionary
From Middle English dekke, borrowed from Middle Dutch dec(“roof, covering”), from Middle Dutch decken, from Old Dutch thecken, from Proto-West Germanic *þakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *þakjaną. Formed the same: German Decke(“covering, blanket”). Doublet of thatch and thack.
From Middle English dekken, from Middle Dutch dekken(“to cover”), from Old Dutch thecken, from Proto-West Germanic *þakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *þakjaną(“to roof; cover”).
etymonline
deck (n.)
mid-15c., dekke, "covering extending from side to side over part of a ship," from a nautical use of Middle Dutch dec, decke "roof, covering," from Proto-Germanic *thakam (source also of thatch (n.)), from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover."
Sense extended early in English from "covering" to "platform of a ship." Meaning "pack of cards necessary to play a game" is from 1590s, perhaps because they were stacked like decks of a ship. Tape-deck (1949) is in reference to the flat surface of old reel-to-reel tape recorders.
Deck-chair (1844) so called because they were used on ocean liners. On deck (by 1740) was in nautical use especially "ready for action or duty;" extended sense in baseball, of a batter waiting a turn at the plate, is by 1867. To clear the deck (1852) is to prepare a ship for action; it is perhaps a translation of French débarasser le pont.
deck (v.1)
"adorn, array or clothe with something ornamental" (as in deck the halls), early 15c., from Middle Dutch decken "to cover, put under roof," a nautical word, from Proto-Germanic *thakjan (source also of Old Frisian thekka, Old High German decchan, German decken), from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover." Meaning "to cover, overspread" is from 1510s in English. Replaced Middle English thecchen, from Old English eccan(see thatch (v.), which is a doublet).Related: Decked; decking.
deck (v.2)
"to knock down," by 1955, probably from deck (n.) on the notion of laying someone out on a ship's deck. Compare floor (v.) "to knock down." Related: Decked; decking.
