Sake
Old English sacu ‘contention, crime’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zaak and German Sache, from a base meaning ‘affair, legal action, thing’. The phrase for the sake of may be from Old Norse.
wiktionary
From Middle English sake(“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu(“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-Germanic *sakō(“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g-(“to investigate”). Akin to West Frisian saak(“cause; business”), Low German Saak, Dutch zaak(“matter; cause; business”), German Sache(“thing; matter; cause; legal cause”), Danish sag, Swedish and Norwegian sak, Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌾𐍉( sakjō, “dispute, argument”), Old English sōcn(“inquiry, prosecution”), Old English sēcan(“to seek”). More at soke, soken, seek.
Borrowed from Japanese 酒(sake, “ alcoholic beverage, especially rice wine”), with pronunciation possibly influenced by Okinawan 酒(saki).
etymonline
sake (n.1)
"purpose," Old English sacu "a cause at law, crime, dispute, guilt," from Proto-Germanic *sako "affair, thing, charge, accusation" (source also of Old Norse sök "charge, lawsuit, effect, cause," Old Frisian seke "strife, dispute, matter, thing," Dutch zaak "lawsuit, cause, sake, thing," German Sache "thing, matter, affair, cause"), from PIE root *sag- "to investigate, seek out" (source also of Old English secan, Gothic sokjan "to seek;" see seek).
Much of the word's original meaning has been taken over by case (n.1), cause (n.), and it survives largely in phrases for the sake of (early 13c.) and for _______'s sake (c. 1300, originally for God's sake), both probably are from Norse, as these forms have not been found in Old English.
sake (n.2)
"Japanese rice liquor," 1680s, from Japanese sake, literally "alcohol."
