Sling
Middle English: probably from Low German, of symbolic origin; compare with German Schlinge ‘noose, snare’. sling1 (sense 2 of the verb) is from Old Norse slyngva .
wiktionary
From Middle English slynge(noun), slyngen(verb), probably from Old Norse slyngja, slyngva(“to hurl”), from Proto-Germanic *slingwaną(“to worm, twist”) or compare Old English slingan(“to wind, twist”), from the same source.
Compare German schlingen(“to swing, wind, twist”), Danish and Norwegian slynge), from Proto-Indo-European *slenk(“to turn, twist”) (compare Welsh llyngyr(“worms, maggots”), Lithuanian sliñkti(“to crawl like a snake”), Latvian slìkt(“to sink”)).
From a shortening of spiderling.
etymonline
sling (n.1)
c. 1300, "implement for throwing stones," from an unidentified continental Germanic source (such as Middle Low German slinge "a sling"); see sling (v.). The notion probably is of a sling being twisted and twirled before it is thrown. Sense of "loop for lifting or carrying heavy objects" first recorded early 14c. Meaning "piece of cloth tied around the neck to support an injured arm" is first attested 1720.
sling (v.)
c. 1200, "to knock down" using a sling, later "to throw" (mid-13c.), especially with a sling, from Old Norse slyngva, from Proto-Germanic *slingwanan (source also of Old High German slingan, German schlingen "to swing to and fro, wind, twist;" Old English slingan "to creep, twist;" Old Frisian slinge, Middle Dutch slinge, Old High German slinga, German Schlinge "sling;" Middle Swedish slonga "noose, knot, snare"), from PIE *slengwh "to slide, make slide; sling, throw." Meaning "to hang from one point to another" (as a hammock) is from 1690s. Related: Slung; slinging.
sling (n.2)
sweetened, flavored liquor drink, 1807, American English, of unknown origin; perhaps literally "to throw back" a drink (see sling (v.)), or from German schlingen "to swallow."
sling (n.3)
"act of throwing," 1520s, from sling (v.).
