stench n.

Old English stincan "emit a smell of any kind; exhale; rise (of dust, vapor, etc.)" (class III strong verb; past tense stanc, past participle stuncen), common West Germanic (cognates: Old Saxon stincan, West Frisian stjonke, Old High German stinkan, Dutch stinken), from the root of stench. Old English had swote stincan "to smell sweet," but offensive sense also was in Old English and predominated by mid-13c.; smell now tends the same way. Figurative meaning "be offensive" is from early 13c.; meaning "be inept" is recorded from 1924. To stink to high heaven first recorded 1963.

c. 1200, "to submerge, sink; drown, kill by drowning," from Old English drencan "give drink to, ply with drink, make drunk; soak, saturate; submerge, drown," causative of drincan "to drink" (see drink (v.)), from Proto-Germanic *drankijan (source also of Old Norse drekkja, Swedish dränka, Dutch drenken, German tränken, Gothic dragkjan "to give to drink").

The sense of "to wet thoroughly by throwing liquid over" is by 1550s. For similar causal pairs, compare stink and stench, cling and clench, shrink and Middle English shrench "cause to shrink." Related: Drenched; drenching.

c. 1200, smel, "scent as a property of matter, that quality of anything that may be perceived by the nose," also "pleasant odor; aromatic substance;" see smell (v.). Not found in Old English, where the usual word was stenc (see stench). Smell is attested specifically as "stench, offensive smell" by late 14c.