It is kind of funny that both of the incorrect versions, peaked or peeked, sort of make more sense just based on the definitions of the individual words. “Peaked my interest” in particular could be interpreted as “reached the top of my interest.”
Way better than stabbing my interest, in a French fashion or otherwise.
I think it makes more sense if you consider the expression "this tickles my fancy".
Why do we use "tickle" there? Because a tickle is a type of stimulation, and "fancy" here means "interest", so one is effectively saying "this stimulates my interest".
If we then consult Oxford Language's definition of pique, we find:
> stimulate (interest or curiosity). "you have piqued my curiosity about the man"
The word "piqued" in "this piqued my curiosity" serves as something along the lines of:
stimulated, aroused, provoked
This is aligned with the French word "piquer", as a "prick" or "sting" (much like a tickle) would stimulate/arouse/provoke.
Right, but that meaning isn’t quite right. To pique your interest is to arouse it, leaving open the possibility that you become even more interested, a possibility which peaking of your interest does not leave open.
However, in the case where someone means "This interested me so much that I stopped what I was doing and looked up more information," peaked is almost more correct, depending on how one defines "interest" in this context (eg. "capacity for interest"? probably no; "current attention"? probably yes).
Way better than stabbing my interest, in a French fashion or otherwise.