Etymology of the word cheek

[VS Prasad]

Could the word have come from out side Europe?
In Telugu language of India, "chekku" means cheek.

[dr john]

False etymology I'm afraid, Cheek comes from OE cece.

[heathfield]

There's no reason why the Old English word 'Cece' couldn't have had its origin in India. English is one of the 'Indo-European' languages, with many of its words originating from that part of the world.

http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/4184/?letter=E&spage=4

[jno]

quite possibly; many European languages come down from Sanskrit and English has picked up words from them. So it would be indirect - I don't know of any words taken directly from the Indo-European source language

[VS Prasad]

Thank you Mr. Heathfield for the reference.

Mr. Jno, a legend among Telugu people in India
states that one of the ancestors visited a western
land many thousands of years ago.

Many cognate words have formed due to that
interaction. Some are given below. The second one
is a Telugu word having the same meaning which is
being used for more than a 1000 years:

attic - attaca. asset - aasti. beat - baadu. boat
- padava. bore - boriya. boy - abbayi. cavity -
guvta. cattle - goddulu. cheek - chekku. chin -
chunbu. cut - kota. dull - deela. elope - lepuka.
fat - boddu. foundation - punaadi. gale - gaali.
lace - allica. link - lanke. mask - musugu. master
- mestri. mead - metha. mouth - moothi. mud -
matti. murky - muriki. nerve - narav. oath - ottu.
pale - paali. pan - penam. pap - pappa. piece -
pisaru. put - pettu. site - chotu. short -
chiruta. show - choopu. slice - cheelchu. suck -
cheeku. surprise - achcheraparachu. sweat -
chewata. theft - thoepidi thick - dukka. thread -
thraadu. value - viluva. veil - valle. vomit -
vaamthi. upon - paina. with - waththa. wonder -
winta. yean - yeenu.

There are no cognate words in Sanskrit for the
above Telugu words.

Dr. John, I wish to know how you can explain the
phonetic similarity between the above words. I am
a retired professor doing research on the above
material for more than a decade.

[heathfield]

Have a look here, Jno!