# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/F (full text)

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F.
Fabel, feminine, ‘fable,’ even in Middle High German fabel, fabele, feminine, from French fable, Latin fabula.
Fach, neuter, ‘compartment, shelf, panel, special branch,’ from Middle High German vach, Old High German fah(hh), neuter, ‘part, division of space, of a partition, wall, &c.,’ also ‘contrivance, an enclosed space in water for catching fish, fish-weir, hurdles for fishing’; with the latter meanings some have connected Greek πάγη, ‘noose, snare, fishing hurdles,’ to which there is no objection phonetically. Yet we must proceed in the case of the High German word as well as of Anglo-Saxon fœc, ‘space, time,’ from a general and primary sense, such as ‘division, a portion of space or time.’ Allied to High German fügen. —
fach, adjective, suffix, ‘-fold,’ from Middle High German (very rare) vach, in manecvach, zwivach, Old High German not found; mannigfach, literally ‘with many divisions’; moreover, Middle High German vach, denotes also ‘fold,’ and -fach as a suffix may be an imitation of the earlier suffix -falt in manecvalt, ‘manifold.’
fächeln, verb, ‘to fan,’ simply Modern High German from Fächer.
Fächer, earlier also Fächel, masculine, ‘fan,’ Modern High German only; the derivation is uncertain; perhaps a diminutive of Middle High German vach, ‘veil.’ Yet the suspicion that the word was borrowed is not unfounded, since Middle High German foche, focher, ‘fan,’ point to Latin focarius, foculare (from focus). The change of ​a to o may be due to Low German (compare Aberglaube, Adebar), as in anfachen, from Latin focare.
Fackel, feminine, ‘torch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vackele, vackel, Old High German facchala, feminine; compare Anglo-Saxon fœcele, feminine, ‘torch,’ with the abnormal variant þœcele, feminine. It is usually regarded as a loan-word from Latin facula, (diminutive of fax). The sounds, however, point with greater probability to a genuinely Teutonic word, which was perhaps connected with Latin facula; Dutch fakkel, feminine, has ck, like the High German word, in contrast to Anglo-Saxon c; the vowels too of the Anglo-Saxon stem and derivative syllable tell in favour of a genuinely native word; likewise Old High German rôrea gafaclita, ‘reed shaken to and fro by the wind.’
Faden, masculine, ‘thread, file, shred,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vaden, vadem, Old High German fadam, fadum, masculine; Gothic *faþms is wanting. Compare Old Saxon fathmos, ‘both arms stretched out,’ Anglo-Saxon fœþm, ‘both arms distended, embrace, protection, bosom,’ English fathom (a measure), Old Icelandic faðmr, ‘both arms, bosom.’ Consequently the primary sense is ‘encompassing with both arms,’ which could be adopted as a measure (see Klafter); hence the use of ‘fathom’ as a measure in English, Scandinavian, Low German, Dutch, and also in Modern High German (adopted from Low German and Dutch). The Modern High German meaning ‘thread’ is a recent development; its literal sense is ‘as much yarn as can be measured with the arms stretched out.’ The primary sense, ‘encompassing,’ results from Gothic faþa, feminine, Middle High German vade, feminine, ‘hedge, enclosure.’ The base of the cognates is a Teutonic root, feþ, faþ, pre-Teutonic pet, pot, which accords with the Greek πετ in πετάννυμι, ‘to spread out,’ πέταλος, ‘outspread, broad, flat’; Latin patere, ‘to stand open,’ is even more remote.
fähig, ‘capable, competent, able,’ from fangen.
fahl, adjective, ‘dun, fawn-coloured, pale,’ from Middle High German val (genitive wes), adjective, ‘pallid, discoloured, faded, yellow, fair,’ Old High German falo (nominative falawêr); compare Old Saxon falu, Anglo-Saxon fealo (genitive fealwes), English fallow, Old Icelandic fǫlr, ‘pallid, pale’; compare falb. Allied primitively to Latin palleo, ‘to be pallid,’ pallidus, ‘pallid,’ Greek πολιός (suffix ιο as in δεξιός, Gothic taihs-wa) ‘grey,’ Old Slovenian plavŭ, ‘whitish,’ Lithuanian pàlvas, ‘tawny,’ Sanscrit palita-s, ‘grey.’ By this interpretation of the cognates the ch of Upper German falch, ‘cow or horse of fawn colour,’ gefalchet, ‘fallow,’ remains unexplained; these suggest a connection with Falke. The cognates, Italian falbo, French fauve (compare also braun, blond, blau), are derived from Teutonic.
fahnden, verb, ‘to inform against,’ from Middle High German vanden, Old High German fânton, ‘to visit’; compare Old Saxon fandian, Anglo-Saxon fandian, ‘to test, beseech, demand’; probably from a root fenþ in finden (compare Dutch vanden, ‘to visit a woman in childbed’).
Fahne, feminine (masculine in Upper German), ‘banner, flag, standard, squadron,’ from Middle High German vane, van, masculine ‘flag, banner’; in this sense Old High German has the compound gundfano, masculine, since fano most frequently means ‘cloth’ (compare ougafano, ‘veil,’ halsfano, ‘neckcloth’); allied to Gothic fana, ‘cloth, stuff, rag,’ Anglo-Saxon fana and gûþfana, masculine, ‘standard, banner,’ English fane, vane, Dutch vaan, ‘flag.’ The Teutonic fanan, pre-Teutonic pano-n-, has in the wider sphere of the Aryan languages many cognates which also point to the general and older meaning, ‘stuff, cloth’; Latin pannus, ‘small piece of cloth, rag,’ Old Slovenian o-pona, ‘curtain,’ ponjava, feminine, ‘sail.’ Akin also perhaps to Greek πῆνος, neuter, ‘garment,’ πηνίον, ‘spool, spindle.’ An Aryan verbal root, pen, appears in Old Slovenian pĭną (pęti), ‘to span, hang.’ The Old Teutonic gunþfano, ‘standard,’ was adopted with the meaning ‘flag’ by Romance (compare French gonfalon, Italian gonfalone), while the simple form in Romance retained at different times the earlier and general meaning (compare Old French and Modern French fanon, ‘rag, towel, fanon (of a priest).’ —
Fähndrich, Fähnrich, ‘cornet, ensign,’ like Gänserich, first formed in Modern High German from the shorter Middle High German word; compare Middle High German vęnre (the Modern High German d is excrescent, as in schaudern, minder), Old High German faneri, masculine, ‘standard-bearer.’
Fähre, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German vęre, vęr, feminine, neuter, ‘ferry’; compare Dutch veer (English ferry is borrowed from Old Icelandic ferja, feminine, ‘ferry’). Also akin to Old High German farm, Middle High German varm, ‘skiff, ferry,’ and Old High German fęrid, neuter, ‘navigium'; like Ferge, connected with fahren. See Praam.
fahren, verb, ‘to drive, convey, sail,’ from Middle High German varn, Old High German faran, ‘to move from one place to another, go, come’; corresponds to Gothic (rare) faran, ‘to wander, march,’ Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon faran, ‘to proceed, march,’ English to fare, Old Icelandic fara, ‘to move’ (of any kind of motion). The root far in Gothic farjan (Old High German fęrian, Middle High German vęrn) means ‘to go by ship,’ and is therefore connected with the nouns mentioned under Fähre. The primary meaning of the Teutonic ​root far, ‘continued motion of every kind,’ is supported also by führen. As derivatives of the Aryan root per, por, compare Greek πόρος, ‘way, passage,’ πόρθμος, ‘straits’ (see Furt), πορθμεύς, ‘ferryman,’ πορεύω, ‘to bring, convey, cross,’ πορεύεσθαι, ‘to go, travel, march’ (hence there is a leaning in Greek also to the meaning ‘to go by ship’ in the case of the root πορ); Old Slovenian perą. pirati, ‘to fly’; Sanscrit root par, ‘to lead across’; Latin peritus, ‘experienced’ —
Fahrende Habe, ‘movables,’ from the equivalent Middle High German varnde habe, varndez guot, Old High German faranti scaz.
Fahrt, feminine, ‘journey, ride, drive, voyage, course,’ from Middle High German vart, Old High German fart; compare Old Saxon fard, ‘journey, voyage,’ Anglo-Saxon fyrd, ferd, feminine, ‘journey, voyage, expedition, troops on the march,’ Old Icelandic ferð, feminine, ‘journey’; Gothic *farþs or *fards is wanting, but the term us-farþô (us skipa, ‘shipwreck’) occurs once. From por-ti-s, a derivative of the root por appearing in fahren; compare also fertig.
Fährte, feminine, ‘track, trail, scent,’ properly the plural of Middle High German vart, Old High German fart, ‘track. way, journey, voyage,’ See Fahrt.
falb, adjective, identical with fahl.
Falbel, feminine, ‘flounce,’ simply Modern High German, from French and Italian falbala, whence also English furbelow.
Falke, masculine, ‘falcon, hawk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German valke, Old High German falcho, masculine (in Upper German still written Falch). In the other Teutonic languages the word does not appear till late in the Middle Ayes (Old Icelandic falke, English falcon, Dutch valk), yet Falco already existed in Lombardicic proper names (compare also Anglo-Saxon Wester-falcna). Among the Anglo-Saxons the falcon was called wealhheafoc, ‘Welsh hawk’; Old Icelandic valr, ‘falcon,’ is properly ‘the Kelic (bird)’; compare Walnuß, welsch. Hence it is possible that Old High German falcho originated in the tribal name Volcae, ‘Kelts’; *volcon- may have become falkon-, and the Romance cognates (Italian falcone, French faucon) borrowed from it. But it is also possible that the word is connected with the cognates of fahl (Upper German falch, ‘a fawn-coloured cow’); hence Falke, ‘a fawn-coloured (bird)’?. If, on the other hand, the word originated in the Latin-Romance cognates (Latin falco is recorded in the 4th century), we must base it on the Latin falx, ‘sickle’; falco, literally ‘sickle-bearer’ (on account of its hooked claws?).
fallen, verb, ‘to fall, abate, diminish,’ from the equivalent Middle High German valn, Old High German fallan; the common Teutonic word for ‘to fall’ (singularly, however, it is unknown to Gothic); compare Old Icelandic falla, Anglo-Saxon feallan, English to fall, Old Saxon fallan. The Teutonic root fal-l, pre-Teutonic phal-n., appears in Greek and Sanscrit as sphal with an s prefixed; compare Greek σφάλλω, ‘to fell, overthrow,’ σφάλλομαι, ‘to fall, be deceived.’ Latin fallo is based directly upon the root phal, ‘to deceive’; Sanscrit root sphal, ‘to stagger’; also Lithuanian pǔlu, púlti, ‘to fall,’; and akin to Sanscrit phala, ‘ripe, falling fruit’?. —
Fall, neuter, ‘fall, ruin, event, case (in gram., &c.),’ Old High German and Middle High German val. (genitive valles), masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon fyll, masculine, ‘fall, death, ruin.’ —
Falle, feminine, from Middle High German valle, Old High German falla, feminine, ‘snare, decipula’; Anglo-Saxon fealle, feminine, ‘laqueus, decipula’ (wanting in English), Dutch val, ‘snare, noose.’
falsch, adjective, ‘false, wrong,’ from the equivalent Middle High German valsch, adjective; Old High German *falsc is not recorded. On account of late Anglo-Saxon fals, English false, Scandinavian fals, which are clearly derived from Latin, the word is doubtlessly connected in some way with Latin falsus. But since the latter retained its s unchanged (compare Italian falso, French faux, from Old French false), we cannot imagine that the word was borrowed directly from Latin-Romance (Old Icelandic falskr is a German loanword of the 15th century). Probably Middle High German valsch, a comparatively recent formation (compare fein, wach), from Old High German gifalscón, gifęlscen, verb, ‘to falsify,’ which is derived from a Latin *falsicâre; Romance *falscare, ‘to falsify.’ The assumption that Middle High German valsch (akin to vâlant, ‘demon’?) is primitively allied to Latin fallere, Greek σφάλλεσθαι, is scarcely valid.
-falt, -fältig, adjective suffix, ‘-fold,’ from Middle High German -valt, Old High German falt; compare Gothic -falþs, Anglo-Saxon -feald, English -fold, Old Icelandic -faldr; a common Teutonic suffix in the formation of multiplicatives; it corresponds to Greek πλάσιος in δι-πλάσιος, &c. (also δίπαλτος, ‘twofold’), for pltios, with which -falt seems to be primitively cognate. See falten, and Einfalt under ein.
falten, verb. ‘to fold, plait, knit (the brow),’ from the equivalent Middle High German valten, Old High German faltan, faldan; corresponds to Goth falþan, Old Icelandic falda, Anglo-Saxon fealdan, English to fold; the Teutonic root is falþ, ‘to fold,’ pre-Teutonic plt, with which compare Old Slovenian pletą. plesti, ‘to twist,’ Greek διπλάσιος, ‘twofold’ (see under -falt), Sanscrit puṭa, ‘fold,’ for plta.
Falte, feminine, ‘fold, plait, crease, hem,’ from Middle High German valte, Old High German falt, masculine, ‘fold,’ is ​primitively cognate with Sanscrit puṭa, ‘fold’ (from pulta). See falzen. — From an Old Teutonic Faltstuhl (Anglo-Saxon fyldstôl), ‘folding stool,’ is derived the French cognate fauteuil, which has lately been adopted again by Modern High German; compare Middle Latin faldistolium, faldistorium, Italian faldistorio.
Falter, masculine, simply Modern High German, ‘butterfly’; the Middle High German term is vîvalter (corrupted also into zwivalter), ‘butterfly,’ from which the Modern High German word has been corrupted by connecting it with falten. But Middle High German vîvalter is based upon an Old Teutonic term for ‘butterfly,’ which may have been *feifaldrô in Gothic; compare Old High German fîfaltra, Old Saxon fîfoldara, Anglo-Saxon fîfealde, Old Icelandic fifrilde, ‘butterfly’; akin to Dutch vijfwouter, ‘a sort of butterfly.’ The origin of this term is not yet established, although it is probably a reduplicated form like beben and zittern.
falzen, verb, ‘to fold, groove, rabbet,’ from Middle High German velzen, valzen, Old High German falzen, ‘to fold’; Falz, masculine, from Middle High German valz, masculine, ‘fold, joint’; akin to Old High German anafalz, ‘anvil,’ Anglo-Saxon anfilt, English anvil, Dutch anbeeld, ‘anvil’ (see Amboß). The cognates are undoubtedly connected with falten; Middle High German valz may have been *falti in Gothic, which would probably represent falt-ti, pltni- (compare schnitzen from schneiden). — Falz, see Balz.
fangen, fahen, verb, ‘to catch, seize, fish (an anchor), soften (hides),’ from Middle High German vâhen, vân, Old High German fâhan, ‘to catch, intercept, seize’; the common Teutonic verb — Gothic fâhan, Old Icelandic fá, Anglo-Saxon fôn (for *fôhan from *fõhan; wanting in English) — has the same meaning. Root fanh (whence fãh, fâh), and by a grammatical change fang (this form is really found only in the participle and preterite, but it has made its way in Modern High German into the present also), pre-Teutonic pank. With the Teutonic cognates some have compared the unnasalised root pak, in Latin pax, pacem (literally ‘strengthening’?); akin to the nasalised pango (participle pactum), with g for c?, Sanscrit pãça, ‘cord’; the root pak appears without a nasal in Teutonic fôg; see High German fügen. —
Fang, masculine, ‘catch, capture, fang, clutches, haul,’ from Middle High German vanc, masculine, Old High German fang; compare Anglo-Saxon feng, ‘clutch, embrace,’ fang, ‘capture,’ English fang (tooth, claw).
Fant, masculine, ‘coxcomb,’ a Low German form (compare Dutch vent, ‘a would-be wit, fool’), for Middle High German vanz, masculine, ‘rogue’ (still existing in alfanz, literally ‘vagabond’; compare Modern High German Firle, Fanz, the first part of which is obscure, perhaps connected with Anglo-Saxon fyrlen, ‘foreign’?). See Alfanzerei.
Farbe, feminine, ‘colour, complexion, suit (of cards),’ from Middle High German varwe, Old High German farawa, ‘colour’; a fem, substantive from the Middle High German adjective var, inflected form varwer, ‘coloured,’ from Old High German faro (nominative farawêr); compare Dutch verw. The word originated probably in Middle Europe, but found its way to the North; Danish farve, Swedish färg. Is Gothic *farwa-, adjective (whence Lithuanian parwas, ‘colour’), or *fazwa to be postulated?
Farn, masculine, neuter, ‘fern,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German varn, varm; corresponds to Dutch varenkruid, Anglo-Saxon fearn, English fern. The interchange of n and m in Old High German and Middle High German is due to the assimilation of the suffix na- to the initial labial; compare Old High German feim with Old Indian phêna, and Old High German bodam with Sanscrit budhna. Farn is wanting in Old Icelandic; yet compare Swedish dialectic fänne (Icelandic *ferne). The type is doubtlessly Aryan parna-, which is identical with Sanscrit parṇa, neuter, ‘wing, feather, foliage, leaf’; hence Farn is literally ‘feather-like leaf’ (Greek πτερίς, ‘fern,’ and πτερόν, ‘feather’). Probably allied also to Lithuanian papartis, Russian paporotĭ (Old Slovenian *papratĭ), ‘fern.’
Farre, masculine, ‘bullock, bull,’ from the equivalent Middle High German varre, var, masculine, Old High German farro, far, masculine; corresponding to Dutch varre, var, ‘bull,’ Anglo-Saxon fearr, masculine, Old Icelandic farre, masculine, ‘bull.’ Since there is a corresponding fen. form, Färse, the rr must have originated in rz (rs), (compare dürr, irre). —
Färse, feminine (unknown to Upper German), ‘heifer,’ from Middle High German (Middle German and Low German) vęrse, feminine; compare Dutch vaars, ‘heifer’ (likewise vaarkoe, ‘heifer’); in Gothic probably *farsi, genitive farsjôs; English heifer, from the equivalent Anglo-Saxon heáhfore, heáfre, feminine, seems to contain Farre, Färse, in the final syllable. The stem farz, fars, does not recur exactly in the cognate languages, yet Greek πόρις, πόρτις, ‘calf, heifer,’ agree with it in sound; likewise Sanscrit pṛšatî, ‘white-spotted cow’ (feminine of prat, ‘speckled, spotted’)?.
Färse, see under Farre.
farzen, verb, ‘to fart,’ from the equivalent Middle High German varzen (also vurzen, vërzen), allied to Old High German fërzan, ‘to fart’; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon feortan, English to fart; Old Icelandic (with transposition of the r), freta. Teutonic root fert, from the Aryan perd, with the same meaning; compare Sanscrit root pard, Greek πέρδειν, Lithuanian pérdżu, pérsti, Russian perdětĭ.
Fasan, masculine, ‘pheasant,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German fasân, fasant, masculine; the ​latter is derived from Latin Greek fasianus (φασιανός, ‘a bird from the Phasis in Colchis’), ‘pheasant,’ whence also Italian fagiano, French faisan.
Fasching, masculine, ‘carnival,’ from Middle High German vaschanc, masculine, ‘Shrovetide’; how it is connected with Fastnacht (Shrove-Tuesday) has not yet been explained.
faseln, verb, ‘to talk irrationally,’ only in Modern High German, a derivative of Old High German fasôn, ‘to track, seek here and there’; but the latter word is probably not from the root fas in Faser.
Faser, feminine, ‘fibre, filament,’ from late Middle High German vaser, feminine, ‘fringe,’ most frequently vase, masculine, feminine, ‘fibre, fringe, border,’ Old High German faso, masculine, fasa, feminine; Anglo-Saxon fœs, neuter, Middle English fasil, ‘fringe.’
Fasnacht, see Fastnacht.
fassen, verb, ‘to hold, grasp, comprehend,’ (reflexive) ‘to make up one's mind,’ from Middle High German vaȥȥen, Old High German faȥȥôn, ‘to handle, seize, load, pack, arm oneself, dress, go’; it seems to be a combination of two or more really different roots. Compare Old Icelandic fǫt, neuter plural, ‘garments’ (Gothic *fata, ‘garments,’ may be deduced from Spanish hato, Portuguese fato, ‘stock of clothes, wardrobe’); the West Teutonic fat (see Faß), has not this meaning, but Middle High German (Old High German) vaȥȥen, ‘to dress oneself, points that way. In the sense ‘to seize,’ the word may be connected with Faß, literally ‘engulphing,’ from which the meaning ‘to load’ would be evolved. In the sense of ‘to go’ (sich vaȥȥen, Middle High German) it must probably be connected with Fuß, or more closely with Anglo-Saxon fœt, ‘step.’ See Fetzen, Fitze.
fast, adverb, ‘almost, nearly,’ from Middle High German vaste, vast, adverb (from vęste, ‘firm’), ‘firmly, strongly, powerfully, very, very quickly,’ Old High German vasto, adverb, from fęsti; similar unmutated adverbs from mutated adjectives are schon from schön, spat from spät. Modern High German has also turned fest into an adverb, the older adverb fast having been specialised in meaning; even in Middle High German vęste is an adverb.
fasten, verb, ‘to fast,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vasten, Old High German fastên; compare Gothic fastan, Old Icelandic fasta, Anglo-Saxon fœstan, English to fast, Dutch vasten; a common Teutonic verb, invariably used in the sense of ‘to fast,’ which, therefore, was probably a religions conception even of the heathen Teutons. The corresponding abstract is Gothic fastubni, Anglo-Saxon fœsten, Old Saxon fastunnia, Old High German fasta, fasto, masculine, Middle High German vaste, feminine, vasten, neuter, ‘fast,’ whence Slavonic postŭ, ‘fast, was borrowed at an early period. The cognates are probably connected with fest in the sense of ‘to contain oneself, exercise restraint in eating and drinking,’ or ‘to obey a religious precept’; compare Gothic fastan, ‘to adhere to, hold, observe.’ —
Fastnacht, feminine, ‘Shrove Tuesday,’ from Middle High German vasenaht, ‘eve of the first day of Lent.’ According to the Old Teutonic computation of time (compare Abend) the evening and night were counted as part of the following day (thus in Anglo-Saxon frîgeœ̂fen, ‘Thursday evening,’ frîgeniht, ‘Thursday night’). The meaning given above did not belong to the word originally. The first part of the compound is an old verb faseln, ‘to play the fool’; the form Fastnacht may have been introduced by the priests.
Faß, neuter, ‘vessel, cask, vat,’ from Middle High German vaȥ, Old High German faȥ(ȥȥ), neuter, ‘cask, vessel, chest’; corresponds to Middle Low German and Dutch vat, Anglo-Saxon fœt, ‘vessel, receptacle, chest’ (English vat), Old Icelandic fat, ‘cask.’ The primary signification of those cognates (pre-Teutonic podo-) may have been ‘receptacle,’ and since Fessel is an allied word, we have to postulate the meaning ‘to hold together’ for the Teutonic root fat. Lithuanian pũdas, ‘pot, vessel,’ would be in Gothic *fôta- instead of *fata-. Modern High German Gefäß is not an immediate derivative of Faß, because it assumes a Gothic *gafêti, neuter, See fassen, Fetzen, Fitze.
faul, adjective, ‘rotten, worthless, lazy,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German vûl, Old High German fûl; compare Dutch vuil, Anglo-Saxon fûl, English foul, Old Icelandic fúll, Gothic fûls, ‘decayed’; la- is derivative; fû- as the Teutonic root is deduced from Old Icelandic fúenn, ‘putrefied,’ which as a participle points to an obsolete verb (Gothic *fauan, formed like bauan), of which Old Icelandic feyja, ‘to allow to putrefy,’ is the factitive (Gothic *faujan). From fū̆ several Teutonic dialects have formed nouns with the meaning ‘cunnus’ (Old Icelandic fuþ); see Hundsfott. The root fū̆, from Aryan pū̆, is equally represented in the allied languages; Greek πύον, ‘matter,’ and the equivalent Latin pûs, neuter; Sanscrit and Zend root pû (pûy), ‘to stink, putrefy,’ Lithuanian pûvù, půti, ‘to putrefy’ (akin to Lithuanian púlei, ‘matter,’ with a derivative l as in faul); also Greek πύθω, ‘to cause to rot,’ Latin pûteo, ‘to stink,’ pŭter, ‘putrid, rotten.’ The primary meaning of the root pŭ is ‘to emit a smell of putrefaction.’ —
faulenzen, verb ‘to be lazy,’ from late Middle High German vûletzen, ‘to be rotten,’ an intensive derivative of faul; compare blißen, seufzen.
​ Faust, feminine, ‘fist,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German vûst. Old High German fûst, feminine; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon fŷst, English fist, Dutch vuist. This term, common to West Teutonic, is unknown to Old Icelandic; in Gothic it may have been *fûsti- or *fûhsti-, feminine. The possible loss of a h before st is supported by the connection with Greek πύξ, ‘with the fist,’ πύγμαχος, ‘boxer,’ πυγμή, ‘fist, boxing,’ Latin pugnus, ‘fist,’ pŭgil, ‘boxer,’ perhaps also pugio, ‘dagger’ (literally ‘fist weapon’), and further pugna, pugnare, &c. The comparison of Faust with Old Slovenian pęstĭ, feminine, ‘fist,’ is less trustworthy; this is possible only if the assumed Gothic *fûhsti is further derived from fuñhsti-, pre-Teutonic pnkstí-; in that case, however, the Greek and Latin terms cited would have no connection with the word.
Faxe, plural, ‘fooleries, tricks,’ Modern High German only; of obscure origin.
fechten, verb, ‘to fight, fence,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vëhten, Old High German fëhtan; a term common to West Teutonic for ‘to fight, contend,’ unknown to Scandinavian and Gothic; compare Dutch and Middle High German vechten, Old Frisian fluchta, Anglo-Saxon feohtan, English to fight. Whether the verb has always belonged to the e class is questionable; it may have passed from the preterite plural and participle of the u class into the e class; in that case, we should have to assume Gothic *fiuhtan, *fáuht, *faúhtum, *faúhtans, instead of *faíhtan, *faht, *faúhtam, *faúhtans. This conceivable assumption facilitates the connection with Latin pugna, pugnare; yet the latter are probably only derivatives of pugnus, ‘fist’; perhaps the inferred Gothic *fiuhtan, ‘to fight,’ is similarly related to Faust.
Feder, feminine, ‘feather, pen, plume, spring, flaw (in jewels),’ from the equivalent Middle High German vëder, vëdere, Old High German fëdara, feminine; the term common to Teutonic for ‘feather’; compare Old Saxon fëthara, Anglo-Saxon fëþer, feminine, ‘feather, wing,’ English feather, Old Icelandic fjǫþr, feminine, Gothic *fiþra, feminine, akin to the collective noun Gefieder (see Fittich). Gothic *fiþra, from pre-Teutonic pétrâ, feminine, has in the allied Aryan languages some correspondences which prove the existence of an Aryan root pet, ‘to fly’; compare the Sanscrit root pat, ‘to fly,’ pátatra, neuter, ‘wing,’ patará, adjective, ‘flying,’ çatápatra, ‘having a hundred wings or feathers,’ Greek πέτομαι, ‘to fly,’ πτερόν (for *πετερόν), ‘wing,’ πτίλον (for *πετίλον), ‘feather’; it is less certain whether Latin penna, ‘feather’ (for *petsna?), is allied. See Fittich. —
Federlesen, neuter, literally ‘picking of the feather from a person's dress’ as a mark of servile flattery; found even in Middle High German —
Federspiel, neuter, ‘lure,’ from Middle High German vëderspil, neuter, ‘a bird trained for hawking, falcon, sparrow-hawk, hawk.’
Fee, Fei, feminine, ‘fairy,’ from the equivalent Middle High German fei, feie, feminine; borrowed from an Old French dialect (Burgundian), feie, Modern French fée (Italian and Romance, fata, literally ‘goddess of destiny,’ from Latin fatum), whence also English fay and fairy.
Fegefeuer, neuter, ‘purgatory,’ from Middle High German vëgeviur, neuter, ‘purgatory,’ from Middle High German vëgen, ‘to purify’; formed on the model of Middle Latin purgatorium.
fegen, verb, ‘to sweep, scour, winnow (corn), purge,’ from Middle High German vëgen (Old High German *fegôn), ‘to purify, adorn, sweep, scour,’ Dutch vegen. Gothic *figôn is connected with Gothic fagrs, ‘suitable,’ Anglo-Saxon fœ̂ger, English fair, Old High German and Old Saxon fagar; from the root feh, fah, fag, fôg in fügen; Old Icelandic fœgja, ‘to cleanse,’ probably belongs to the same root (the Gothic form being fégjan); Aryan root, pē̆k, pō̆k?.
Fehde, feminine, ‘feud,’ from Middle High German vêhede, vêde, Old High German fêhida, ‘hate, enmity, quarrel, feud’; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon fœ̂hþ, feminine, ‘enmity, revenge, feud’; Goth *faihiþa, ‘enmity,’ is probably an abstract noun from the Gothic adjective *faihs, ‘hostile,’ which appears in Anglo-Saxon as fâh, fâg, ‘exiled, outlawed, proscribed’ (Anglo-Saxon gefâa, masculine, ‘enemy,’ English foe; compare Old High German gifêh, Middle High German gevêch, ‘hostile, malignant’). A pre-Teutonic root, pī̆q, ‘to injure, cheat’ (compare also Gothic faih, ‘imposition, deception,’ bifaihôn, ‘to deceive, overreach’), is indicated by the Lithuanian; compare Lithuanian pìktas, ‘angry,’ pýkti, ‘to get angry,’ peíkti, ‘to curse,’ paíkas, ‘stupid’ (akin to Prussian po-paikâ, ‘he cheats’). Respecting the interchange of meaning between ‘to injure’ and ‘to deceive,’ see trügen. Hence English foe is literally ‘one who injures,’ Old High German fêhida, literally ‘hurt, injury.’
fehlen, verb, ‘to miss, want, err,’ from Middle High German vêlen, vœlen, ‘to fail, mistake, cheat, be wanting, miss’; borrowed in the Middle High German period (about 1200 A.D.) from French faillir, ‘to fail, miss, deceive,’ which again, like Italian fallire, is derived from Latin fallere. The word was also adopted by English in the 13th century; compare English fail, likewise Dutch feilen, ‘to fail, miss, deceive,’ Scandinavian (since the 14th century), feila.
Fehme, feminine, ‘criminal tribunal’ (in ​Westphalia formerly), from Middle High German veime, feminine, ‘condemnation, punishment, secret tribunal,’ Gothic *faima, feminine, would, on the analogy of τέσσαρες, Gothic fidvôr, favour the connection with the root τι in Greek τίνω, ‘to atone for,’ derived from ki, ‘to punish, avenge’; Greek ποίνη, as a derivative of the same root, may have been formed with a different suffix from that which appears in Fehme. In spite of the late formation of the word, its origin is difficult to discover and uncertain. Its connection with Dutch veem, ‘guild, association,’ is also disputed. Others again refer it to Old Saxon a-fêhian, ‘to condemn’ (see feige). It is quite impossible to connect it with an older Low German form, Fehme, ‘oak-mast,’ which, with Bavarian dehme, deehel, ‘oak-mast,’ belongs to a different stem.
Feier, feminine, ‘holiday, festival, celebration,’ from Middle High German vîre, feminine, Old High German fîra, fîrra, ‘festival, holiday’; borrowed from Middle Latin fêria (formed from Latin feriae), with the lat ê strengthened, as Kreide, Speise, Seide, Pein; the cause of the rr in Old High German fîrra is the i of fêria.
Feiertag, masculine, ‘holiday, festival,’ from Middle High German vîr-, vîretac, Old High German firatag. —
feiern, ‘to celebrate,’ from Middle High German vîren, Old High German fîrrôn, fîrôn, ‘to celebrate, keep a festival,’ formed from Latin feriari. The borrowed word is found in the Teutonic languages of Middle Europe (Dutch vierdag, Old Frisian fîra), but is wanting in English and Scandinavian. The Romance languages preserve Latin feriae in the sense of ‘fair’; compare Italian fiera, French foire (hence English fair). Compare Messe and Fest. —
Modern High German Ferien (since the 16th century), ‘vacation, holidays,’ has been derived anew from Latin feriae.
feige, adjective, ‘cowardly, dastardly,’ from Middle High German veige, Old High German feigi, adjective, ‘doomed to death, accursed, unhappy,’ then also ‘timid, cowardly’ (in the Modern High German sense feige is wanting in the Upper German dialects); compare Old Saxon fêgi, ‘doomed to death,’ Hessian fêg, Dutch veeg, veege, ‘on the point of death,’ Anglo-Saxon fœ̂ge, Scotch fey, Old Icelandic feigr, ‘doomed to death, on the point of death.’ In the sense of ‘fated to die,’ the adjective is primitively Teutonic (Gothic *faigs). It has also been compared with Sanscrit pakvás, ‘ripe,’ so that the Teutonic cognates would represent pêkj, pêki (with an inserted vowel); compare feil. Far more improbable is the assumption that it is connected with Gothic faihs, Old High German fêh, Anglo-Saxon fâh, ‘variegated,’ as is it were thought that the person doomed to death by the fates was distinguished by some coloured mark. Some compare it with the cognates discussed under Fehde, some with Lithuanian paíkas, ‘stupid, silly,’ others, again, with an Old Saxon féhian, ‘to condemn.’ See Fehme.
Feige, feminine, ‘fig,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vîge, Old High German fîga, feminine, ‘fig’; compare Old Saxon fîga, Dutch vijg; derived, like other South European names of trees and fruits, from Romance Latin (ficus, feminine), or more strictly from North Italian and Provençal figa, whence also French figue. The Anglo-Saxon fîctreów is connected directly with the Latin, the later English form fig-tree being based upon French figue. Compare Pfirsich, Pflaume, Birne, varieties of fruit, which were borrowed in the Old High German period, or even earlier, from the Latin Gothic smakka, ‘fig,’ corresponding to Old Slovenian smokŭ, was obtained from a different source. See Ohrfeige.
Feigwarze, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German (rare) vîcwarzen, neuter, vîcwęrze, feminine, ‘venereal ulcer,’ for which is found, mostly in the same sense, Middle High German vîc, masculine, from Latin fîcus, whence also the equivalent Anglo-Saxon fîce; compare Italian fico, ‘fig, venereal ulcer.’
feil, adjective, ‘for sale, venal,’ from Middle High German veile, veil, Old High German feili, with the curious variant fâli, adjective, ‘purchaseable’; akin to the equivalent Old Icelandic falr, with an abnormal vowel. Teutonic faili- has according to Old High German fâli, Old Icelandic falr, an inserted vowel in the accented syllable (compare feige); hence it corresponds to Aryan pêli-, and is connected with Greek πωλέομας, ‘to sell,’ and more remotely with the Old Indian root pan for paln-, ‘to purchase, buy, exchange.’ —
feilschen, with sch after l for s, ‘to higgle, bargain,’ from Middle High German veilschen, Old High German *feilisôn, ‘to bargain for something.’
Feile, feminine, ‘file,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vîle, Old High German fîla, fîhala (not fĭhala), feminine; corresponds to Anglo-Saxon feól (dialectic variant *fîl), feminine, English file, Dutch vijl, ‘file.’ The Old Icelandic term is þél, feminine, ‘file,’ with an abnormal initial sound; Goth *feihala or *þeihala must be assumed. The form with initial f from Aryan p points to the widely diffused root pik, ‘to scratch,’ akin to Latin pingo, pictor, Old Slovenian pĭsati, ‘to write.’ Yet Old Icelandic þel, from *þîhl, points to Teutonic þinh, equivalent to pre-Teutonic tek, tenk, in Modern High German Dachs; for the interchange of f and þ compare düster (finster), Fackel, Fehme (also Old High German fîn, fîma compared with Low German dîme, ‘heap of corn.’
Feim, masculine, ‘foam,’ from the equivalent ​MidHG. veim, Old High German feim, masculine; compare the corresponding Anglo-Saxon fâm, English foam, which are primitively allied to the equivalent Sanscrit phêna, Old Slovenian pěna. Modern High German abgefeimt, from an earlier abfeimen, ‘to skim’ (compare raffiniert, from French raffiner, ‘to refine’).
fein, adjective, ‘fine, elegant, cunning,’ from Middle High German vîn, fîn, adjective, ‘fine, beautiful’; Old High German *fîn may be inferred from the adverb fînlîhho, which is first recorded in a gloss of the 10th century; compare Dutch fijn, English fine. Borrowed from a word common to Romance, Italian fino (French fin), with the primary meaning ‘perfect, genuine, pure,’ which is a late adjective form from Latin finire.
Feind, masculine, ‘enemy, foe, fiend,’ from Middle High German vînt, vîent, vîant, Old High German fîant, masculine, ‘enemy’; the common Teutonic noun for ‘enemy’; compare Old Saxon fîund, Anglo-Saxon feónd, English fiend, Old Icelandic fjánde, Gothic fijands. In contrast to Latin hostis, discussed under Gast, the Teutonic designates his enemy according to the disposition of the latter; Feind (present participle of the Sanscrit root pî, pîy, ‘to scorn, hate’) is literally ‘the hater’; compare Old High German fîen, Anglo-Saxon feógan, Gothic fijan, ‘to hate,’ akin to Gothic faian, ‘to blame.’ Fehde is perhaps allied to it; for the transformation of the present participle into a substantive compare also Freund, Weigand, and Heiland.
feist, adjective, ‘fat, in good condition,’ from Middle High German veiȥt, veiȥet, Old High German feiȥȥit, adjective, ‘fat, greasy’; properly a participle without gi-, ge- of a Gothic verb *faitjan, ‘to fatten,’ Old High German feiȥȥen, which is from the nominal stem faita-, ‘fat,’ Old Icelandic feitr, Middle High German veiȥ. With the assumed Gothic *faitiþs are connected Anglo-Saxon fœ̂ted, fœ̂tt, and English fat (compare fett). Gothic *faita-, from pre-Teutonic paido-, has no unquestionable cognates in the allied languages; it can scarcely be connected with Old Slovenian pitĕti, ‘to nourish, feed,’ on account of the faulty shifting of the dental (Slavonic t corresponding to Gothic t is impossible); it is more probably related to the root πῖδ, ‘to swell, flow forth’; compare πῖδαξ, ‘a spring,’ πιδύω, ‘to gush forth.’
Felber, masculine, ‘white willow,’ from Middle High German vëlwer, older vëlwâre, masculine, from vëlwe, ‘willow,’ Old High German fëlawa, fëlwa, feminine, ‘willow tree.’ Probably Osset. färwe, ‘alder,’ is primitively allied to it.’
Feld, neuter, ‘field, space, square (chessboard), panel,’ from Middle High German vëlt (genitive -des), Old High German fëld, neuter, ‘field, soil, surface, plain’; a word common to West Teutonic pointing to Gothic *filþ, neuter; Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon fëld (lþ in both dialects are regularly changed into ld), English field, Dutch veld. It is still questionable whether Old Icelandic fjall, ‘mountain,’ is identical with it, since the former is more probably connected with Modern High German Fels. On the other hand, the following are certainly allied: — Old Icelandic fold, feminine, ‘pasture,’ Anglo-Saxon folde, feminine, Old Saxon folda, ‘earth, country, ground’ (pointing to Goth *fuldô). Finnish pelto is derived from Teutonic felþos, which, with Old Icelandic folda, is based upon the Aryan root plth (Sanscrit pṛth), ‘to be broad, flat’; compare Sanscrit pṛthivî, ‘earth,’ as well Fladen.
Felge, feminine, ‘felly (of a wheel),’ from Middle High German vëlge, Old High German fëlga, feminine, ‘rim of a wheel, tyre,’ Old High German also ‘harrow, roller for breaking clods’; compare Dutch radvelge, ‘felloe,’ Anglo-Saxon fëlg, English felly (rim, fellow). Is Old High German felga, ‘roller, harrow,’ to be connected with Anglo-Saxon *fealge (Middle English falge, ‘fallow land’), English fallow, and its e to be regarded therefore as formed by mutation? Middle High German valgen, ‘to plough up, dig,’ makes such a supposition very probable. It is possible that the two classes in the sense of ‘felloe’ and ‘barrow’ are not allied to each other. Between Old High German fëlga and Anglo-Saxon felga, ‘felloe,’ there is no connecting link.
Fell, neuter, ‘hide, skin, fur,’ from Middle High German vël(ll), Old High German fël(ll), ‘human skin, hide’; compare Gothic fill, neuter, in þrûts-fill, ‘leprosy,’ faurafilli, ‘foreskin’; Old Icelandic fjall, ‘skin, hide,’ in compounds, Anglo-Saxon fëll, neuter, ‘skin, hide,’ English fell, Dutch vel. Common to Teutonic originally, but universal in the wider sense of ‘skin,’ both of men and animals. Teutonic fella- from pre-Teutonic pello- or pelno-; compare Latin pellis, Greek πέλλα, ‘hide, leather,’ ἄπελλος, neuter, ‘(skinless) unhealed wound,’ ἐρυσίπελας, ‘erysipelas, St. Anthony's fire,’ ἐπίπλοος, ‘caul of the entrails,’ the latter for ἐπίπλοϝος, akin to Lithuanian plėvė, ‘caul, skin’; also akin to Anglo-Saxon filmen, ‘membrane, foreskin,’ English film; likewise Greek πέλμα, ‘sole of the foot or shoe,’ and perhaps πέπλος, ‘garment,’ as a reduplicated form (πέ-πλ-ος, root πελ).
Felleisen, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German velîs, masculine, ‘valise, knapsack’; the Modern High German form is a corruption of the Middle High German word which is based upon the equivalent French valise.
Felsen, masculine, ‘rock,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vęlse, vęls, masculine, Old High German fęlis, masculine, felisa, feminine (from which French falaise, ‘cliff,’ is borrowed); akin to Old Saxon fęlis, masculine, probably also to Old Icelandic fjall, ‘mountain’; the latter would be *filza- in Gothic, the former *falisa-; in Dutch and English the word is wanting. Old Irish ​ail (from *palêk), ‘rock,’ Old Slovenian planina, ‘mountain,’ Sanscrit parvata, ‘rock, mountain,’ may be primitively allied. Connected also with Old Indian púr, ‘fastness, citadel,’ to which Greek πόλι-ς has been referred? or with Sanscrit pâšâṇa (for *palsâna), ‘stone’?.
Fenchel, masculine (Suabian and Alemannian Fenkel), from the equivalent Middle High German vënchel, vënichel, Old High German fënahhal, fënihhal, masculine, ‘fennel’; compare Anglo-Saxon finul, English fennel; formed from Latin (fœniculum, feniculum, feniclum), fenuclum; from the same source the Romance cognates French fenouil, Italian finocchio, ‘fennel,’ are derived.
Fenster, neuter, ‘window,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vęnster, Old High German vęnstar, neuter; compare Dutch venster, neuter. Based, with a curious change of gender, on Latin fenestra, from which, however, the fęnstar of the Middle European Teutons could only be produced by shifting the accent back according to the Teutonic custom (compare Abt) and by syncopating the second e. This indicates that the word was borrowed very early, in the beginning of the Old High German period. Yet the idea was well known to the older periods, as is testified by the terms naturally applied to the existing object — Gothic augadaurô, ‘eye-gate,’ Anglo-Saxon êgþŷrel, ‘eye-hole,’ Old Icelandic vindauga (whence Middle English windôge, English window). By the introduction of the Southern term (compare also Old Irish senister, Welsh ffenester) the idea was probably reconstructed. This word was borrowed at the same period as other words — Ziegel, Mauer — relating to the building of houses.
Ferge, masculine, ‘ferryman,’ from Middle High German vęrge, vęrje, vęre, Old High German fęrjo, fęro (nominative singular fęrjo, genitive and dative fęrin, accusative fęrjun), masculine, ‘mariner, ferryman.’ The j is changed into g after r as in Scherge, Latwerge. Gothic *farja, masculine, ‘mariner,’ is wanting. Most closely allied to Fähre; also akin to Gothic farjan, ‘to navigate,’ see root far under fahren.
Ferien, see Feier.
Ferkel, neuter, ‘sucking-pig,’ from Middle High German vęrker, verchel, vęrhelîn, Old High German farhelî(n); diminutive of Middle High German varch, neuter, ‘pig, sucking-pig,’ Old High German farah, farh, neuter; Anglo-Saxon fearh, masculine, English farrow; Dutch varken, neuter, ‘pig’; Gothic *farha- is wanting. In any case it is a pre-Teutonic word, since the allied Aryan languages have words corresponding to it both in sound and meaning; *farhaz from pre-Teutonic porkos, corresponds to Latin porcus (Greek πόρκος), Lithuanian pàrszas, Old Slovenian prasę, neuter, Old Irish orc. Like Eber and Schwein, this word too, unknown to Indian, is essentially West Aryan, while Kuh is a common Aryan word.
fern, adverb, ‘far, distantly, remotely,’ from Middle High German vërrene, vërren, vërne, Old High German vërrana, vërranân, adverb, ‘from afar’; the adverb in answer to the question ‘where’? is vërre in Middle High German and vërro in Old High German. The adjectival form in Middle High German is vërre, in Old High German vër, which are probably derived from the old adverb. The remaining Teutonic branches have no old originally adjective; as an adverb, however, we meet with Gothic faírra, which is also a preposition, ‘distant, away from,’ Old Icelandic fjarre, Anglo-Saxon feor, English far, Old Saxon fërr. Besides these words relating to distance in space, Old Teutonic has also allied terms for distance in time; Gothic fairneis, ‘old, in the preceding year,’ Old Saxon firn, ‘preceding, passed away (of years),’ Old High German firni, Middle High German virne, ‘old’ (see under Firnewein); akin also to Old Icelandic forn, ‘old,’ Middle High German vorn, ‘earlier, formerly,’ with a differently graded vowel. To the Teutonic stem fer-, for- from pre-Teutonic per, pṛ, are allied Greek πέρᾶ, ‘further,’ πέρᾶν, ‘on the other side,’ Armenian heri, ‘distant,’ Sanscrit pára-s, ‘more, remote,’ paramás, ‘remotest, highest,’ parás, adverb, ‘far of, in the distance.’ The cognates of Aryan per- have too great and involved a ramification to be fully explained here. See firn.
Ferse, feminine, ‘heel, track, footsteps,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vërsen, Old High German fërsana, feminine; corresponds to Gothic fairzna (for *fairsna), feminine, Anglo-Saxon fyrsn, feminine (pointing to Gothic *faírsni-); English obsolete, the term ‘heel’ (Anglo-Saxon hêla) being used, in Scandinavian hœ̂ll; Dutch verzen, Old Saxon fërsna. Common, like Fuß, and numerous other terms relating to the body (Herz, Niere, Ohr, Nase, &c.), to Teutonic and the allied languages, and hence derived from the Old Aryan vocabulary; compare fersnó-, -ni-, from pre-Teutonic pē̆rs-nâ, -ni-, with Sanscrit pâršṇi-s, feminine (like Anglo-Saxon fyrsn in the formation of its stem), Zend pâšna, masculine, Greek πτέρνα, feminine, ‘heel, ham,’ Latin perna, ‘leg (of mutton, &c.), ham,’ pernix, ‘quick, speedy’ (for *persna, *persnix).
fertig, adjective, ‘ready, complete, dexterous,’ from Middle High German vęrtec, vęrtic (from vart, ‘journey’), adjective, ‘able to walk, walking, in motion, ready, fit,’ Old High German fartîg; Dutch vaardig, ‘ready.’ The adjective, like bereit and rüstig, probably meant originally ‘equipped for a military expedition.’
​ Fessel (1.), feminine, ‘fetter, chain, shackle,’ from Middle High German vęȥȥel, Old High German fęȥȥil, masculine, ‘band for fastening and holding the sword,’ then also ‘band, fetter’; Anglo-Saxon fętel, ‘sword-belt,’ Old Icelandic fetell, masculine, ‘band, bandage, sword-belt’; akin to root fat (see Faß, fassen), ‘to hold’?. The Modern High German has retained its general sense by taking the place of another Old Teutonic word for ‘fetter’; Middle High German vëȥȥer, feminine, ‘fetter, shackle for the foot,’ Old High German fëȥȥera, Old Saxon fëter, Anglo-Saxon fëter, English fetters (plural), Old Icelandic fjǫturr. These words, which are usually connected with Latin pedica, Greek πέδη, ‘fetter,’ Latin compes, and hence with the cognates of Modern High German Fuß, can scarcely be allied to the terms indicating a Gothic *fatils, ‘sword-belt.’
Fessel (2.), feminine, ‘pastern.’ See Fuß.
Fest, neuter, ‘festival, fête, feast,’ from the equivalent Middle High German fëst, neuter, from Latin festum, whence Italian festa, French fête (English feast); Feier is the earlier loan-word. Gothic has simply a native dulþs, ‘feast.’ See Dult.
fest, adjective, ‘firm, solid, strong,’ from Middle High German vęst, vęste, Old High German fęsti, adjective, ‘firm, strong, steadfast’; see the corresponding adverb fast, which is not mutated; neither was the adjective originally formed by mutation, since, according to Old Saxon fast, Anglo-Saxon fœst, English fast, Old Icelandic fastr, adjective, ‘firm,’ we have to assume a Gothic *fastu-, which is probably an old to- participle like laut, traut, zart, alt, &c., from the root fas-, ‘to fasten’; *fasta-, literally ‘fastened,’ then ‘firm.’ Gothic still retains only the verb fastan, ‘to keep firm, hold fast.’ See fasten.
Fetisch, masculine, ‘fetish,’ adopted by Modern High German at beginning of the 17th century. The earlier parallel form Fetisso is more closely connected with the Portuguese base feitiço, ‘enchantment,’ but the modern form with French fêtiche.
fett, adjective, ‘fat, plump,’ only in Modern High German, introduced by Luther from Middle German and Low German instead of the genuine Upper German feist; Low German fett, compare Dutch vet from an earlier fêtt, Anglo-Saxon fœ̂tt, ‘fat,’ which, with Old High German feiȥȥit, are derived from Gothic *faitiþs; see feist. As to the origin of the Modern High German idiom, sein Fett haben, jemandem sein Fett geben, ‘to get one's due, give any one his due,’ opinions are divided; although the reference to einbrocken, jemandem etwas einbrocken (to play one a trick), &c., supports the assumption of a purely German origin, some etymologists regard it as partly translated and partly borrowed from the French donner à quelqu'un son fait, avoir son fait, others even as an ironical reference to the French faire fête à quelqu'un, ‘to make a person heartily welcome.’
Fetzen, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German vêtze, masculine, ‘rag, tatters’; probably from Middle High German vaȥȥen, ‘to dress,’ Old Icelandic fǫt, ‘clothes.’ From a Teutonic (Gothic) fata, ‘clothes,’ Spanish hato, and Portuguese fato, ‘wardrobe,’ are derived. Compare fassen, Faß. In the dialectal compounds Alltags-, Sonntagsfetzen, Fetzen denotes ‘clothes.’
feucht, adjective, ‘moist, damp, humid,’ from the equivalent Middle High German viuhte, Old High German fûhti, fûht, (Gothic *fûhtu- is wanting). The adjective is West Teutonic; compare Low German fucht, Anglo-Saxon fûht, English obsolete, Dutch vochtig, ‘damp.’ An allied root (pū̆k), qū̆k, quak, is assumed for Old Slovenian kysnąti, ‘to grow sour,’ kvasiti, ‘to acidify,’ which are scarcely connected with this word.
Feuer, neuter, ‘fire, ardour, passion,’ from the equivalent Middle High German viur, Old High German and Old Low German fiur, older fûir, neuter; compare Dutch vuur, Anglo-Saxon fŷr (from *fûir), neuter, English fire; a word common to West Teutonic for ‘fire’; in Gothic fön (genitive funins), Old Icelandic fune, ‘fire,’ but it is doubtful whether they are cognate with High German Feuer; compare Old Icelandic (only in poetry) fúrr, masculine, and fýre, neuter, ‘fire.’ The r in all the words is a suffix, and fû (from pre-Teutonic pû) the root; compare Greek πῦρ and Æolic πύΐρ, neuter (πυρσός, ‘torch’). In Sanscrit a verbal root pû, ‘to flame, beam brightly,’ is found, whence pâvaká, ‘fire.’
Fibel, feminine, ‘primer,’ first occurs in early Middle High German (15th century), probably a Low German word originally formed from Bibel; the earlier variant wibel (wivel?) points to Modern Greek pronunciation. Perhaps Fibel represents Bivel (compare Essig, Bieber).
Fichte, feminine, ‘pine, fir,’ from Middle High German vichte, feminine, Old High German fiohta, fiuhta, feminine, ‘fir.’ No cognate term is found in any of the other Teutonic dialects, yet Fichte is proved from the non-Teutonic languages to be primitive; compare Greek πεύκη, ‘fir,’ Lithuanian puszìs, ‘fir.’ The High German form is fuller by a dental affix than the Greek and Lithuanian words.
Fieber, neuter, ‘fever,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vieber, Old High German fiebar, neuter; from Latin-Romance febris, with a change of gender as in Anglo-Saxon fêfor, neuter, equivalent to English fever; Old High German and Middle High German ie for e, as in Brief, Ziegel, Spiegel, Priester; so too Modern High German Bieber-, Middle High German biever, from vieber, with an interchange of consonants, as in Essig and Kabeljau.
​ Fiedel, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German videl, videle, feminine, Old High German fidula (as early as Otfried), feminine, ‘fiddle, violin’; compare Dutch vedel, Anglo-Saxon fiþele, English fiddle, Old Icelandic fiþla. Old High German fidula is based, according to Anglo-Saxon fiþele, ‘fiddle,’ fiþelêre, ‘fiddler,’ fiþelestre, ‘fidicina,’ upon an older West Teutonic *fiþula. The latter form with þ might be deduced from Latin *fitula or fidula (for fidicula?), yet these primary forms are not recorded. There is undeniable connection between the Teutonic class and the Romance cognates — Italian viola, French viole, ‘violin,’ the origin of which, it is true, is much disputed. Still Harfe found its way from Teutonic into Romance.
fillen, verb, ‘to flay,’ from the equivalent Middle High German villen, Old High German fillen; allied to Fell.
Filz, masculine, ‘felt, blanket; miser; reprimand,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vilz, Old High German filz, masculine; compare Dutch vilt, Anglo-Saxon and English felt, Swedish and Danish filt, ‘felt’ (Gothic *filtis, pre-Teutonic *peldos, neuter). Latin pilus, pileus, Greek πῖλος, are scarcely allied; it is more probably connected with Old Slovenian plŭstĭ, ‘felt.’ From the Teutonic word are derived the similarly sounding Romance words, Italian feltro, French feutre, Middle Latin filtrum, ‘felt.’ Other words also relating to weaving were introduced into Romance from Teutonic. See Haspe, Rocken.
finden, verb, ‘to find, discover; deem, consider,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vinden, Old High German findan; compare Gothic finþan, Old Icelandic finna, Anglo-Saxon findan, English to find, Old Saxon fîthan, findan, ‘to find.’ Teutonic fenþ, as a strong verbal root from pre-Teutonic root pent; akin to Old High German fęndo, masculine, ‘pedestrian,’ Anglo-Saxon fêþa, ‘foot-soldier,’ Old High German funden, ‘to hasten’?. Some etymologists adduce Latin invenire and Old Slovenian na iti, ‘to find,’ to show by analogy that from a verb of ‘going’ the meaning ‘find’ can be evolved. With the Teutonic root fenþ the equivalent Old Irish root ét- (from pent-) is most closely connected.
Finger, masculine, ‘finger,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vinger, Old High German fingar, masculine; a common Teutonic term; compare Gothic figgrs, Old Icelandic fingr, Anglo-Saxon and English finger. It is uncertain whether the word is derived from fangen, root fanh, and it is questionable whether it comes from the root finh, pre-Teutonic pink, ‘to prick, paint,’ Latin fingo (see Feile); it is most probably primitively allied to fünf (Aryan penqe). The terms Hand, Finger, Zehe are specifically Teutonic, and cannot be etymologically explained with certainty. Besides there existed even in Old Teutonic a definite term for each finger. First of all the thumb obtained its name, which is a rudimentary and hence very old form; for the remaining names see under Daumen.
Fink, masculine, ‘finch,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vinke, Old High German fincho, masculine; corresponds to Dutch vink, Anglo-Saxon finc, English finch, Swedish fink, Danish finke, ‘finch’; Gothic *finki-, *finkjan-, are wanting. There is a striking similarity of sound in the Romance words for ‘finch’ — Italian pincione, French pinson, to which the English dialectal forms pink, pinch, ‘finch,’ belong. Yet there is no suspicion that the Teutonic word was borrowed; the Teutonic class is probably primitively allied to the Romance word.
Finne (1.), feminine, ‘fin,’ first occurs in Modern High German from Low German finne, Dutch vin, ‘fin’; first recorded in the Teutonic group in Anglo-Saxon (finn, masculine, English fin), hence it cannot have been borrowed from Latin pinna, ‘fin of the dolphin, feather.’ No Teutonic word can be proved to have been borrowed from Latin before the period of the Old Teutonic substitution of consonants, i.e., before the beginning of our era (see Hanf). Hence Anglo-Saxon finn must be assumed as primitively cognate with Latin pinna. Is it, like penna, based upon pesna (Old Latin)? If it were based upon *pis-nâ, ‘fin,’ it might perhaps be regarded as cognate with piscis, Gothic fiska- (fis-ka), ‘fish.’
Finne (2.), feminine, ‘tumour, scrofula,’ from Middle High German vinne, pfinne, ‘pimple, foul rancid smell’; compare Dutch vin, ‘pimple.’ The relation of the initial sounds is not clear; Middle High German pfinne points to Gothic p, Dutch vin to f initially; perhaps the double form is due to confusion with Finne (1.); p may be the correct initial sound.
finster, adjective, ‘dark, gloomy, morose, sullen,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vinster, Old High German finstar; Old Saxon *finistar, as an adjective, is not found, but it may be inferred from a substantive with the same sound, meaning ‘darkness’; the stem is essentially German, but a series of phonetic difficulties (see düster) hamper the discovery of the type. In Old High German there exists besides finster an Old High German dinstar, Middle High German dinster, whose initial d must have been substituted for an earlier (Old Saxon, Gothic) þ; to these Old Saxon thimm, ‘dark,’ corresponds. The interchange of þ and f, judging from the parallel forms under Feile and Fackel, cannot be denied. In that case the root would be þem (see Dämmerung). But Old Saxon thiustri, Anglo-Saxon þŷstre ‘gloomy,’ have no connection with it.
​ Finte, feminine, literally ‘feint,’ also ‘trick, fib,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from Italian finta, ‘cunning’ (French feinte).
Firlefanz, masculine, ‘nonsense, drollery,’ from Middle High German virlefanz, masculine, ‘a sort of dance,’ whence the meaning in Modern High German ‘foppish, silly manner.’ Some have tried to connect it with Norwegian fillefant, ‘scoundrel,’ fantefolk, ‘gipsies,’ which would make it akin to Fant. On account of the late appearance of the word it is impossible to decide, however, whether Anglo-Saxon fyrlen, ‘far, distant,’ is the basis of the first part of the compound, or rather Middle High German firlei, ‘a dance’ (French virelai, ‘virelay’). See Fant.
firn, adjective, ‘old, of last year,’ from Middle High German virne, adjective, ‘old,’ also ‘experienced,’ Old High German firni, ‘old’; corresponds to Gothic faírneis, ‘old,’ Anglo-Saxon fyrn, ‘old,’ Old Saxon fërn, ‘past’ (of years). The reference to the year gone by exists in the Gothic and Old Saxon words, but does not appear to be found in Old High German and Middle High German, although the stem is known to modern Upper German dialects; compare Alemannian fernig, ‘of last year.’ ‘In the preceding year’ is Middle High German vërt, vërne; Middle German and Upper German preserve even now an Old Teutonic adverb fert, fered, ‘in the preceding year’; compare Old Icelandic fjǫrþ, adverb, ‘in the preceding year,’ from Gothic *faíruþ, pre-Teutonic peruti (perouti), Greek πέρυτι, πέρυσι, ‘in the preceding year,’ Old Irish onn-urid, ‘from the preceding year onwards,’ Lithuanian pernai, ‘in the preceding year,’ Sanscrit pa-rut. Hence the idea of ‘the preceding year’ is primitively inherent in the stem per, Teutonic fer; the general sense of time gone by appears in the Teutonic adjective fern and its cognates.
Firn, Firne, masculine, ‘snow of the preceding year or years, glacier,’ properly an adjectival substantive in the sense of ‘old snow,’ first recorded in the last century; see the preceding word. —
Firnewein, ‘last year's wine’; see firn.
Firnis, masculine, ‘varnish,’ from Middle High German firnîs, ‘varnish, rouge’; from French vernis (whence also English varnish), Italian vernice. Finally derived from Latin vitrum, vitrînus.
First, masculine, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German virst, Old High German first, masculine, ‘ridge of a roof, summit’; compare Low German and Dutch (with gradation), vorst, ‘ridge of a roof,’ Anglo-Saxon first, fyrst, feminine; Gothic *faírsti- or fairshti- is wanting. Allied to Sanscrit pṛšṭhá-m, neuter, ‘back, summit, mountain-peak,’ which is nearest in sound to Dutch vorst. From Teutonic, Old French freste, Provençal frest, ‘gable,’ are derived.
Fisch, masculine, ‘fish,’ from the equivalent Middle High German visch, Old High German fisk, masculine; a common Teutonic term; compare Gothic fisks, Old Icelandic fiskr, Anglo-Saxon fisc, English fish, Dutch visch, Old Saxon fisc. Teutonic fiska-z, from pre-Teutonic pisko-s, corresponds to Latin piscis and Old Irish iasc (with the normal loss of p from prehistoric peiskos). The word belongs to the three most western groups of the Aryan division, which have also the word Meer in common; in East Aryan matsya. Further, there are no names of fishes common to Teutonic and Latin-Keltic. Perhaps the term was a migratory word of early civilization, the source of which cannot be discovered.
Fist, masculine, ‘fart,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vist, masculine; akin to the equivalent Dutch veest, Anglo-Saxon fist. A common Aryan root pezd appears in Latin pêdo for pezdo, as well as in Greek βδέω, from *βσδέω, Lithuanian bezdù (bezděti), Hence Teutonic fisti- is to be explained by Aryan pezd-i-. From the verbal noun fist a verbal root fī̆s, ‘pedere,’ was inferred in very early times. Compare Old Icelandic físa.
Fistel, feminine, ‘fistula, reed, falsetto,’ from Middle High German fistel, feminine, ‘a deep abscess in ducts or passages,’ even in Old High German fistul, formed from the equivalent Latin fistula; the term was first applied to the voice in Modern High German.
Fittich, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German vittich, vëttach, masculine, neuter, vëttache, feminine, masculine, ‘wing, pinion,’ Old High German fëtah, older fëthdhah, masculine; in meaning a collective of Feder; compare Old Saxon fëtherac, Old High German fëderah, Middle High German fëdrach, ‘wing’; the formation of Old High German fëthdhah is not clear; was the Gothic form *fiþþaks? The dentals are obscure, yet the word is undoubtedly related to Feder.
Fitze, feminine, ‘knot of yarn, skein, wrinkle,’ from Middle High German vitze, Old High German fizza, feminine, ‘a number of reeled threads tied together, skein, yarn’; akin to Old Icelandic fǫt, ‘clothes,’ Middle High German vaȥȥen, ‘to dress,’ root fat, fet? ‘to spin’? ‘to weave’?. Yet it is more closely connected with Old Saxon fittea, Anglo-Saxon fitt, ‘chapters, divisions in poems.’
fix, adjective, ‘quick, smart,’ first occurs in Modern High German; Latin fixus and its Romance derivatives are not used in this sense; whether borrowed from it or not is doubtful.
flach, adjective, ‘flat, shallow, superficial,’ from Middle High German vlach, Old High German flah(hh), adjective, ‘flat, smooth’; compare Dutch vlak, ‘even.’ Akin to the graded forms Anglo-Saxon flôc, English flook, fluke (‘flounder’), North English flook-footed, ‘flat-footed.’ This suggests Latin plaga, ‘district,’ or more probably, on account of its ​meaning, Old Slovenian plosku, ‘flat’; Latin plânus scarcely represents *plagnus (see Flur); related to Greek πλάξ (stem πλακ), ‘surface,’ Greek πλακοῦς, Latin placenta, ‘cake.’ But English flat, Old Icelandic flatr, Old High German flaȥ, ‘flat, level,’ have nothing to do with flach. A Middle German and Low German parallel form of flach is mentioned under Blachfeld.
Flachs, masculine, ‘flax,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlahs, Old High German flahs, masculine; compare Dutch vlas, Anglo-Saxon fleax, neuter, English flax; a common West Teutonic term, unknown to Scandinavian and Gothic. Usually referred to the root fleh (or fleht) in flechten; s (Gothic *flahsa-) is probably a suffix.
flackern, verb, ‘to flare, flicker,’ from Middle High German vlackern, ‘to flicker,’ Old High German (once) flagarôn (for flaggarôn?), ‘to fly, flutter about’; akin to Anglo-Saxon flacor, ‘flying, fluttering,’ Middle English flakeren, ‘to fly, flutter about,’ Middle Dutch flackeren, Scandinavian flökra, verb, ‘to flutter,’ as well as the equivalent flökta. Compare the cognate stems Anglo-Saxon flicorian, English to flicker, Dutch flikkern, ‘to glimmer, gleam’; this class, on account of the numerous words it comprised at an early period, cannot be derived from Latin flagrare, nor even be connected with fliegen, to which Old High German flogarôn, flokrôn, ‘to flutter,’ and flogezen, Middle High German vlokzen, ‘to flutter, gleam,’ may be referred.
Fladen, masculine, ‘flat cake, cow dung,’ from Middle High German vlade, masculine, ‘broad, thin cake,’ Old High German flado, ‘offering-cake’; corresponds to Dutch vlade vla, feminine, ‘pancake,’ Middle English flaþe (Gothic *flaþa). Pre-Teutonic platan- or plathan- would have to be assumed, perhaps with the primitively sense, ‘surface, flat thing’; compare Greek πλατύς, ‘broad’; Greek πλάθανον (θ for Aryan th), ‘cake-mould’; Sanscrit pṛthús, ‘broad’ (akin to Sanscrit pṛthivî, ‘earth,’ under Feld), práthas, neuter, ‘breadth,’ Lithuanian platùs, ‘broad.’ Allied to the graded forms plôth, Latin Plôtus, Plautus, literally ‘flatfooted,’ semiplôtia, ‘slipper,’ Middle High German vluoder, ‘flounder,’ literally ‘flat fish.’ Remoter cognates of the whole class are Old Icelandic flatr, Old High German flaȥ, ‘level, flat.’ From Fladen, which is probably West Teutonic only, arc derived the early Middle Latin flado, Italian fiadone, ‘honeycomb,’ French flan, ‘flat cake, custard’ (whence English flawn, ‘a kind of custard’). Compare for its meaning Middle High German breitinc, masculine, ‘a sort of biscuit,’ akin to breit.
Flagge, feminine, ‘flag, ensign, standard,’ borrowed, like most words with gg (see Dogge, Bagger), from Low German and Dutch in the Modern High German period; compare Dutch vlag, English flag, Danish flag, Swedish flagg. A modern Teutonic word not recorded in the earlier periods. In which of the Teutonic maritime tribes this and other nautical terms were first used we know not, for the earlier history eludes us. Since, however, Anglo-Saxon preserves the earliest forms of a number of nautical terms which are afterwards found in all the cognate languages (see Bord, Boot, Helm (2), Spriet, &c.), the silence of the Anglo-Saxon records — no term *flacge is found — may be accepted as a proof that Flagge is not native to England.
Flamberg, masculine, ‘broad-sword,’ simply Modern High German from French flamberge, the origin of which is often referred to German, though no suitable type can be found.
Flamme, feminine, ‘flame, blaze, flash,’ from the equivalent Middle High German flamme, vlamme, feminine; compare Old Low German flamma, Dutch vlam, formed from Latin flamma.
Flanke, feminine, ‘flank, side,’ simply Modern High German, from French flanc, which, with its Romance cognate (Italian fianco), is derived from Old High German hlanca, ‘side’ (see lenken). For French fl, from Teutonic hl, see flau.
Flasche, feminine, ‘bottle, flask,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlasche, Old High German flasca, feminine (Middle High German also vlesche with mutation); compare Dutch flesch, Anglo-Saxon flasce, feminine, English flask, Old Icelandic (found early) flaska, feminine, Gothic *flaskô, whence Finnish lasku. The word is recorded in Teutonic at an early period, but on account of its correspondence with the Romance words for ‘bottle,’ it may have been borrowed; compare Middle Latin flasco (occurs very early), Italian fiasco, Modern French flacon. Some etymologists derive Middle Latin flasco from Latin vasculum. An exhaustive history of these cognates has not yet been attempted.
flattern, verb, ‘to flutter, dangle,’ in Middle High German vladern from Middle High German vlëdern (see Fledermaus); Middle Dutch flatteren, English to flatter, akin to flutter, also Middle English fliteren, English to flitter; Anglo-Saxon floterian, Middle English floteren, ‘to undulate,’ are, however, certainly allied to the root flut, ‘to flow.’
flau, adjective, ‘feeble, stagnant, insipid, dull,’ simply Modern High German; borrowed in the last century from Low German flau, Dutch flauw, ‘languid, faint, indifferent,’ which, with English flew, ‘soft, tender,’ are derived from Romance. Considering the late appearance of the cognates, and the area to which they are confined, it is certain that they originated ​in French flou, Old French flau, floi; the latter is of Teutonic origin (see lau), so that Modern High German flau is finally derived from a pre-Teutonic hléwa-. Compare Flanke.
Flaum, masculine (Up.German Pflaum also), ‘down,’ from Middle High German phlûme, feminine, Old High German pflûma, ‘down,’ from Latin plûma, whence also Anglo-Saxon plûmfëþere. As the shifting of the initial sound proves, however, the word must have been borrowed in the earlier Old High German period; compare the Old Irish word (also derived from the Latin) clúm, ‘feather’ (Old Welsh plumauc, ‘pillow’). Scandinavian and English have for Flaum an apparently genuine Teutonic word (see Daune. It is certainly recorded by Pliny that Teutonic tribes in the olden time sent flocks of geese to Rome; but perhaps it was only ‘down’ (see also Flocke), which was valuable to the Southerners, and so the Latin pluma may hare been introduced into Teutonic at an early period. The initial f of the Modern High German form for pf may be due to the connection with Feder.
Flaus, masculine, originally ‘a tuft of wool,’ then ‘a woollen coat, pilot cloth,’ from Middle High German vlûs, ‘fleece, sheepskin,’ a variant of Middle High German vlies. See Flies.
Flause, feminine, ‘trick, pretence,’ simply ModHG; Middle High German *vlûse does not occur; it is probably connected with Old High German giflôs, neuter ‘whispering,’ giflôsida, feminine, ‘illusion,’ flôsâri, ‘liar.’
Flechse, feminine, ‘sinew, tendon,’ only Modern High German, from Latin flexus.
Flechte, feminine, ‘plait, braid (of hair), wattle, lichen,’ from late Middle High German vlëhte, t., ‘plait, lock of hair,’ allied to the following word.
flechten, verb, ‘to plait, braid, wreathe,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlëhten, Old High German vlëhtan; a corresponding Gothic *flaíhtan, akin to flahta, feminine, ‘lock of hair,’ is wanting; Old Icelandic flétta for flehtan. Teutonic root fleht, from pre-Teutonic plekt; the t, as also in Latin plecto compared with plicare, was originally only a formative element of the present tense, for according to Greek πλέκω, πλοκή, πλόκος, the Aryan root must have been plek; compare Sanscrit praçna, ‘braid, basket.’ Falten (root falþ) and flechten (root fleh) are entirely unrelated.
Fleck, Flecken, masculine, neuter, with many senses which are historically the same, ‘spot, stain, patch,’ from Middle High German vlëc, vlëcke, masculine, ‘piece of stuff, patch, rag, piece of land, place, spot, differently coloured spot, stain, blemish,’ Old High German flëc, flëccho; Dutch vlek, feminine, ‘spot of dirt,’ vlek, neuter, ‘village’; Gothic *flikka- or *flikkan- (or rather *þl-) is wanting; compare Old Icelandic flekkr (genitive plural flekkja), masculine, ‘a fleck, spot, stain,’ as well as flík, feminine, ‘rag, piece of stuff.’ Its connection with Scandinavian flikke, Anglo-Saxon flicce, English flitch, is dubious. See flicken.
Fledermaus, feminine, ‘bat,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlëdermûs, Old High German flëdarmûs, feminine; corresponds to Dutch vledermuis; English flittermouse does not occur in Anglo-Saxon, and may be due to the influence of Middle European Teutonic. That the animal was thought to be a mouse is shown by Anglo-Saxon hreape-, hrêremûs; the English term bat, Middle English backe, Danish aftenbakke (aften, ‘evening’), is unique. Fledermaus, literally ‘fluttering mouse,’ from Old High German flëdarôn, Middle High German vlëdern, ‘to flutter.’
Flederwisch, masculine, first occurs in early Modern High German with a reference to flëdern, ‘to flutter.’ In Middle High German once vëderwisch, Dutch vederwisch; properly ‘a goosewing for dusting,’ or rather Flederwisch, ‘whisk for fanning away.’
Flegel, masculine (Suabian Pflegel), ‘flail, churl,’ from Middle High German vlęgel, Old High German flęgil, masculine, ‘flail’; compare Dutch vlegel, English flail; probably from Middle Latin flagellum, ‘quo frumentum teritur’ (whence also French fleau, ‘flail’). On account of its meaning it cannot be connected with the Teutonic root flah, ‘to flay’ (Old Icelandic flá, ‘to flay’). Yet it may be primitively allied to Lithuanian plakù, plàkti, ‘to strike,’ Latin plango, Greek πλήγνυμι, ‘to strike.’
flehen, verb, ‘to implore, supplicate,’ from Middle High German vlêhen, Old High German flêhan, flêhôn, ‘to implore,’ Old High German also ‘to fondle, flatter’; initial fl for earlier þl, as in fliehen (Gothic þliuhan); compare Gothic gaþláihan (ai a genuine diphthong), ‘to fondle, embrace, console, exhort in a friendly way,’ akin to Gothic gaþláihts, feminine, ‘comfort, warning.’ Also allied to Old Icelandic flár, ‘false, cunning,’ Anglo-Saxon flâh. ‘wily, cunning,’ both pointing to Gothic *þlaiha-. The primary meaning of the root flaih was perhaps ‘importunate, insinuating speech.’
Fleisch, neuter, ‘flesh, meat, pulp (of fruit),’ from the equivalent Middle High German vleisch, Old High German fleisk, neuter; it has the same meaning in West Teutonic and Scandinavian. Strange to say, a Gothic *flaisk, *flaiskis, neuter (or þl- compare fliehen), is not recorded, the term used being leik or mims, neuter. Compare Dutch vleesch, Anglo-Saxon flœ̂sc, English flesh; Old Icelandic flesk is used only of ‘pork,’ and more especially of ‘ham’ and ‘bacon,’ while kjǫt was the common Scandinavian word for ‘meat.’ It may well be imagined ​that the Scandinavian specialised meaning of the word was the oldest, and that the meaning common to West Teutonic was established only by generalisation; compare Old Icelandic flikke, Anglo-Saxon flicce, English flitch (dialectic flick), as well as Anglo-Saxon (Kent.) flœc for flœ̂sc, ‘meat.’ Russian poltĭ, Lithuanian páltis, ‘flitch,’ cannot, on account of their vowel-sounds, be cognates. The k of the Old Teutonic word is probably a suffix; compare Dutch vleezig, ‘plump’?. — eingefleischt, ‘incarnate,’ simply Modern High German formed like the Latin incarnatus, ‘embodied.’
Fleiß, masculine, ‘industry, application, diligence,’ from Middle High German vlîȥ, Old High German flîȥ, masculine ‘diligence, zeal, care,’ Old High German also ‘contest,’ from Old High German flîȥȥan, Middle High German vlîȥen, ‘to be zealous, apply oneself, Modern High German befleißen, participle be-, geflissen. Compare Dutch vlijt, ‘diligence,’ Anglo-Saxon flitan, ‘to emulate, quarrel, contend,’ English to flite. On the evolution of meaning see Krieg. ‘To emulate’ seems to have been the literal meaning of the merely West Teutonic root flī̆t (Gothic fl- or þl-? — see fliehen). No further references have been discovered.
flennen, verb, ‘to weep ruefully, grin,’ from Middle High German *vlennen; akin to Old High German flannên, ‘to make a wry face,’ from pre-Teutonic *flaznan?. Root flas, from pre-Teutonic plos, in Latin plôrare, ‘to weep’?.
fletschen, verb, ‘to beat flat, grin,’ from Middle High German vletsen, ‘to show one's teeth’; remoter history obscure.
flicken, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German vlicken, ‘to put on a patch, mend’; akin to Fleck.
Flieder, masculine, ‘elder,’ simply Modern High German from. Low German; compare Dutch vlier, ‘elder.’ Earlier forms are not recorded; the word did not originate in either Scandinavian, English, or High German.
Fliege, feminine, ‘fly, fluke (of an anchor),’ from the equivalent Middle High German fliege, Old High German flioga, feminine; compare Dutch vlieg, Anglo-Saxon fleóge, equivalent to English fly, which is based upon Anglo-Saxon flŷge, Old High German fliuga, Middle High German fliuge, ‘fly’; hence a mutated form (Gothic *fliugjô), besides an unmutated Gothic *fliugô; in Old Icelandic with a different gradation fluga, feminine, ‘fly, moth’; akin to fliegen (Gothic *fliugan). For an older term for ‘fly’ see under Mücke.
fliegen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German vliegen, Old High German fliogan, ‘to fly’; compare Dutch vliegen, Anglo-Saxon fleógan (3rd singular flŷhþ), English to fly, Old Icelandic fljúga; the common Teutonic term for ‘to fly’; Gothic *fliugan may be inferred from the factitive flaugjan, ‘to keep on flying.’ Fliegen is in no wise connected with fliehen, as is proved by the initial sound of the root in Gothic þliuhan, ‘to flee,’ compared with usflaugjan; see Fliege, Vogel. Teutonic root fliug, from pre-Teutonic pleugh, plugh; akin to Latin plûma for plûhma?. For an older root extending beyond Teutonic see under Feder.
fliehen, verb, ‘to flee,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vliehen, Old High German fliohan; corresponds to Old Saxon fliohan, Anglo-Saxon fleón (from fleóhan), English to flee, Old Icelandic flýja; the f before l is a common substitution for an older initial þ, as in flehen (Gothic þlaihan), flach (from Gothic þlaqus); compare Gothic þliuhan, ‘to flee.’ This older form was retained only in Gothic; Scandinavian has f (flýja), like the West Teutonic verbs. Hence the Teutonic root is þluh, and by a grammatical change þlug, pre-Teutonic root tluk, tleuk. Fliegen is primitively allied, since it is based upon the root plugh. In the earliest Old Icelandic and in West Teutonic the forms of both the verbs must undoubtedly have been confused; thus Old Icelandic flugu and Anglo-Saxon flugon in the earliest period may mean ‘they fled’ and ‘they flew.’ See Flucht.
Fließ, Fließ, neuter, ‘fleece,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlies, neuter; compare Dutch vlies, Anglo-Saxon fleós, neuter, English fleece; also a mutated form Anglo-Saxon flýs, flýss, Middle High German vlius, earlier Modern High German fleuss, flüss. A second parallel form is represented by Modern High German Flaus. In East Teutonic the cognates are wanting; whether Gothic *fl- or *þliusis, neuter (compare fliehen), is to be assumed we cannot say, since satisfactory references to non-Teutonic forms have not yet been produced. To explain Vließ from Latin vellus is futile, since the latter is more probably primitively allied to Wolle, and to regard Vließ as borrowed from vellus is impossible; flechten, Flachs, &c., are also totally unconnected with the word.
fließen, verb, ‘to flow, stream,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlieȥen, Old High German flioȥȥan, strong verb; corresponds to Old Saxon fliotan, Dutch vlieten, Anglo-Saxon fleótan, English to fleet, Old Icelandic fljóta, Gothic *fliutan, ‘to flow.’ The Teutonic root fliut, flut, from pre-Teutonic pleud-plud, corresponds to Lettic pludêt, ‘to float,’ plûdi, inundation,’ Lithuanian plústi, ‘to take to swimming,’ plûdìs, ‘floating wood.’ Several Teutonic terms for ‘ships’ point to the latter sense, which, of course, is earlier than the Modern High German ‘flowing,’ though in Old High German Middle High German and Modern High German, fließen signifies ‘to be driven by flowing water, to swim.’ See Floß, Flotte (Flut, Gothic flôdus, is not a cognate). Instead of the root plud, other ​Aryan languages have an allied shorter root plu; compare Greek πλέω, ‘to navigate, swim,’ Sanscrit plu, pru, ‘to swim,’ Latin pluere, ‘to rain’ (fließen in a restricted sense).
Fliete, feminine, ‘fleam, lancet,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vliete, vlieten, Old High German flietuma; further derived from Greek and Middle Latin phlebotomum, ‘lancet, an instrument for opening veins,’ whence also the equivalent cognates Anglo-Saxon flŷtme, French flamme, English fleam, Dutch vlijm.
flimmern, verb, ‘to glimmer, sparkle, scintillate,’ like the older Modern High German flimmen, a derivative, by gradation, of Flamme.
flink, adjective, ‘brisk, nimble, lively,’ simply Modern High German from Low German and Dutch flink, ‘brisk, agile, nimble’; akin to earlier Modern High German flinken, ‘to glitter, shine’; compare Greek ἀργός, ‘gleaming, quick.’
Flinte, feminine, ‘flintlock, gun, musket,’ first used in the 17th century; compare Danish flint, ‘musket’; probably akin to Swedish flinta, Danish flint, ‘stone,’ properly ‘flint-stone.’ Dutch and English preserve older terms — Dutch vuurroer, Modern High German Feuerrohr, English firelock. Flint, ‘stone,’ Anglo-Saxon and English flint, whence French flin, ‘thunderstone,’ is probably related to Greek πλίνθος, ‘brick.’
Flitter, masculine, ‘spangle, tinsel,’ simply Modern High German; originally ‘a small thin tin coin’; akin to Middle High German gevlitter, ‘secret laughter, tittering,’ vlittern, verb, ‘to whisper, titter,’ Old High German flitarezzen, ‘to coax in a flattering manner’; Middle English fliteren, ‘to flutter,’ English flittermouse. The root idea is ‘unsteady motion,’ upon which Modern High German Flitter is based. With the meaning of Old High German flitarezzen, ‘to flatter, fondle,’ as well as Modern High German flïtern, ‘to whisper, titter,’ is connected Flitterwoche, feminine, which first occurs in early Modern High German. The following foreign terms are interesting: — Scandinavian hjúnóttsmánaþr, literally ‘a month of the nuptial night’; Danish hvedebrodsdage, literally ‘wheat-bread days’; English honeymoon, derived from the Scandinavian word?, or rather formed from the Romance phrases, such as French lune de miel, Italian luna di miele.
Flitzbogen, masculine, ‘crossbow,’ first occurs in early Modern High German from Low German; compare Dutch flitsboog, ‘crossbow,’ from Dutch flits, ‘javelin’; hence French flèche, ‘arrow,’ and its Romance cognates are probably derived.
Flocke, feminine, ‘flake, flock (of wool), flue,’ from Middle High German vlocke, masculine, ‘flake, snowflake,’ Old High German floccho; compare Dutch vlok, Danish flokke, Swedish flokka, English (not in Anglo-Saxon) flock, but Old Icelandic flóke, ‘flock (of hair, wool, &c.).’ The supposition that the word was borrowed from Latin floccus is hardly worth considering, since the High German word is recorded even in the Old High German period, and gives no support to such a derivation (yet compare Flaum). Besides many possible roots exist within the Teutonic group, either in fliegen (Teutonic root flugh, from pre-Teutonic plugh) or in Anglo-Saxon flacor, ‘flying’ (see flackern); on account of Old Icelandic flóke, the latter is to be preferred. English flock, ‘herd,’ is beside the mark; like Old Icelandic flokkr, ‘herd, flock,’ and Anglo-Saxon flocc, it almost certainly belongs to fliegen, and probably signified originally ‘a swarm of flying creatures’ (Kette, ‘covey,’ on the other hand, meant properly ‘any kind of herd’).
Floh, masculine, ‘flea,’ from Middle High German vlôch, vlô, masculine, feminine, Old High German flôh, masculine; a common Teutonic term; compare Dutch floo, Anglo-Saxon fleáh, English flea, Old Icelandic fló. It probably means ‘fugitive,’ and is akin to fliehen; hence a Gothic *þláuhs, not *fláuhs, is to be assumed. But even if *fláuhs is the Gothic form, it cannot be connected with either Greek Ψύλλα or Latin pulex, since neither vowels nor consonants are in accord. Fliegen too is unrelated, since the final sound of its stem is g only, and not h.
Flor, masculine, ‘gauze, crape, bloom,’ Modern High German only; formed from Dutch floers; akin to Middle High German floier, ‘headdress with dangling ribbons’ (compare Schleier)?, flôrsen, ‘adornment, finery’?.
Florin, masculine, ‘florin,’ from late Middle High German flôrîn, masculine, ‘a gold coin first made in Florence, and stamped with a lily, the armorial bearings of the town’ (appeared about the middle of the 14th century); Middle Latin florinus, from flos, ‘flower’; Italian fiore.
Floskel, feminine, ‘flourish, showy phrase,’ simply late Modern High German, from Latin floscellus.
Flosse, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German vloȥȥe, Old High German floȥȥa, feminine, ‘float; Floßfeder, ‘fin,’ even in Middle High German vloȥvëdere, in Old Saxon simply fëthara, ‘float,’ like Greek πτέρυξ, ‘feather, float,’ Latin pinna, ‘feather, float.’ See Finne. Flosse, akin to fließen, ‘to float.’
Floß, neuter, ‘float, raft, buoy, stream, fishing-net,’ from Middle High German vlôȥ, Old High German flôȥ, masculine, neuter, ‘raft,’ also in Middle High German and Old High German in the senses ‘current, flood, river’; Dutch vlot, ‘raft’; compare Anglo-Saxon fleót, neuter, ‘ship,’ English fleet, Anglo-Saxon flota, ‘ship’ (also ‘mariner, sailor’), English float, substantive and verb; note too Anglo-Saxon flŷte, ‘cream, flos lactis,’ with which English to fleet (‘to skim’) is connected, Low German flot, ‘cream’; ​compare Lithuanian pluditi, ‘to float,’ under fließen (Flosse).
Flöte, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German floite, vloite, feminine, ‘flute’; corresponds to Dutch fluit, from Old French flaüte, Modern French flûte (whence also English flute, Dutch fluit); compare Italian flauto, ‘flute.’ In the idiom flötengehen, ‘to come to nothing,’ a Low German fleuten, ‘to flow’ (Old Low German fliotan), appears; it meant originally (in the 18th century) ‘to go through, run away.’
flott, adjective, ‘afloat; merry, luxurious,’ first occurs in Modern High German from Low German; compare Dutch vlot, ‘floating, swimming’; it is connected with fließen, Floß, but has, like Flotte, Saxon the dental medially, hence it must be assumed that the word was borrowed from Low German.
Flotte, feminine, ‘fleet, navy,’ Modern High German only, from French flotte, which, with its Romance cognates, was borrowed from Scandinavian flote, neuter, ‘fleet’; compare Dutch vloot, but English fleet; all allied to fließen, Teutonic root flut.
flößen, flötzen, verb, ‘to float (timber), skim (milk),’ from Middle High German vlœȥen, vlœtzen, ‘to cause to flow, wash down (soil),’ factitive of fließen. The Middle High German forms with ȥ and tz correspond to those of heißen, reißen (Middle High German heiȥen-heitzen, reiȥen-reitzen), and are based upon a Gothic inflexion flautja, flauteis, since tj leads, through the medium of tt, to High German tz, but t without j to ȥ.
Flötz, neuter, older Fletze, neuter, ‘vein of ore,’ from Middle High German vlętze, neuter, ‘threshing-floor, vestibule, stratum,’ Old High German flęzzi; compare Anglo-Saxon flętt, ‘floor of the hall,’ Old Icelandic flet, ‘room, hall’; akin to the Old Icelandic adjective flatr, Old High German flaȥ, ‘flat, wide, level,’ mentioned under Fladen and flach.
fluchen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German vluochen, Old High German fluohhôn, ‘to curse, imprecate,’ with an existent strong participle Old High German farfluohhan, ‘depraved, wicked’; compare Old Saxon farflôken, ‘accursed’; Gothic flôkan (not *flêkan), strong verb, ‘to lament,’ Dutch vloeken, ‘to curse, execrate,’ In English and Scandinavian the Teutonic root flôk does not occur. Gothic flôkan, ‘to lament, bewail,’ shows the earlier meaning of the cognates; the root flôk, from pre-Teutonic plâg, may be connected with Latin plangere, ‘to strike, mourn,’ Greek root, πλαγ in πλήσσω (ἐξεπλάγη), ‘to strike.’ The Latin verb facilitates the transition of the meaning ‘to strike,’ ‘to lament,’ then ‘to imprecate, curse.’ —
Fluch, from the equivalent Middle High German vluoch, masculine, Old High German fluoh, masculine, ‘curse, imprecation’; Dutch vloek.
Flucht, feminine, ‘flight, escape, refuge; row, floor,’ the equivalent Middle High German vluht, Old High German and Old Saxon fluht, feminine, a verbal abstract from fliehen; Dutch vlugt, Anglo-Saxon flyht, English flight; Gothic *þlaúhti-, ‘flight,’ is wanting, for which þlauhi- occurs. In Old Icelandic flótte, masculine, ‘flight,’ pointing to Gothic þlaúhta. The verbal abstract of fliegen might in Scandinavian and West Teutonic coincide with this word; in fact, Anglo-Saxon flyht, English flight, and Dutch vlugt signify both ‘fleeing’ and ‘flying.’ See fliegen with respect to this confusion.
Fluder, neuter ‘mill trough,’ from Middle High German vlôder, neuter, ‘flowing, flooding, mill trough,’ Old High German flôdar, ‘flood of tears.’ In Gothic *flauþr, neuter, is probably to be assumed, based upon a root flau, flu; compare Old High German flouwen, flęwen, Middle High German vlouwen, vlöun, ‘to wash, rinse.’ The properly sense of the word is exactly that of fließen; compare Old Icelandic flau-mr, ‘current, flood’; for pre-Teutonic plu, see under fließen.
Flug, masculine, ‘act of flying, flight, flock,’ from Middle High German vluc (plural vlüge), Old High German fluy, masculine; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon flyge, Old Icelandic flugn, masculine, ‘flight’; verbal abstract of fliegen. For another form see under Flucht. Gothic *flugi- and *flauhti- are wanting. —
flugs, adverb, ‘hastily, quickly,’ a genitive of Flug, Middle High German fluges, ‘quickly.’
Flügel, masculine, ‘wing, leaf (of a folding door), aisle, grand piano,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vlügel, masculine.; compare Dutch vleugel, ‘wing’; a late derivative of fliegen. Strange to say, a common Teutonic word is wanting. For an Old Aryan root, ‘to fly,’ see Feder (also Farn).
flügge, adjective, ‘fledged,’ a Low German form for the strictly High German flücke, Middle High German vlücke, Old High German flucchi, ‘able to fly.’ Akin to Middle Dutch vlugghe, with Low German permutation, English fledged; properly a verbal adjective from fliegen, with the meaning ‘capable of flying.’
flugs, see Flug.
Flunder, masculine, ‘flounder,’ a Low German word derived from Scandinavian; compare Old Danish flundra, Old Swedish flundrae, English flounder. Akin also to Old Icelandic flyðra, Middle High German vluoder, ‘flounder’?.
flunkern, verb, to glimmer,’ from the older Modern High German flinken, ‘to shine’; see flink. In the original sense ‘to brag,’ which is probably Low German, it is still the same word; ‘to cause to shine’ forms the link between the meanings.
Flur, feminine, masculine, ‘field, meadow, floor, entrance-hall’; the division in meaning in Modern High German Flur, masculine, ‘vestibule,’ Flur, feminine, ​'corn field,’ was unknown to the older language; Middle High German vluor, masculine, feminine, ‘cornfield, floor, ground.’ The meanings ‘entrance to a house, vestibule, paved floor,’ belong to Middle High German and Low German; compare Dutch vloer, ‘vestibule, barn-floor,’ Anglo-Saxon flôr, masculine, feminine, ‘vestibule, barn-floor,’ also ‘storey,’ English floor; Scandinavian flór, ‘floor’ of a cow-house (Gothic flôrus is wanting). The resulting primary meaning, ‘floor,’ has been extended only in High German to ‘corn-field.’ Teutonic flóru-s, from pre-Teutonic plôrus, plârus, is most closely related to Old Irish lár for *plár, ‘floor, paved floor.’ Old Prussian plonis, ‘barn-floor,’ has a different suffix; it is allied to Lithuanian plónas, ‘flat’; hence perhaps it may be connected with Latin plânus.
flüstern, verb, ‘to whisper,’ earlier Modern High German flistern, from Old High German flistran, ‘to caress,’ to which the old (also Swiss) forms flismen, flispern, ‘to whisper,’ are allied; compare also Dutch fluisteren.
Fluß, masculine, ‘river, stream, flow,’ from Middle High German vluȥ, Old High German fluȥ, masculine, ‘river, stream, cast, bronze cast, rheumatism’; in these senses simply a Modern High German derivative of fließen, pointing to Goth *fluti-. English flyte signifies a peculiar kind of ‘vessel, pontoon.’ For the genuinely Teutonic word for ‘river, flowing water,’ see under Au; compare also Strom.
flüssig, adjective, ‘fluid, liquid,’ from Middle High German vlüȥȥec, ‘liquid, flowing,’ Old High German fluȥȥig; like Fluß, a specifically High German form.
Flut, feminine, ‘flood, inundation, billow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vluot, masculine, feminine, Old High German fluot, masculine; a word common to Teutonic; compare Gothic flôdus, feminine, Old Icelandic flôþ, Anglo-Saxon flôd, masculine, neuter, English flood, Old Saxon flôd, Dutch vloed. Gothic flôdus, from pre-Teutonic plôtú-s, is based upon a Teutonic root flô (from pre-Teutonic plô); compare Anglo-Saxon flôwan, equivalent to English to flow, Old Icelandic flóa, ‘to flow.’ Akin to the Greek root πλω in πλώ-ω, ‘to float, sail, πλωτός, ‘floating, sailing, navigable.’ Perhaps this Aryan root plô is related to the Aryan root plu mentioned under fließen and Fluder; yet there is no direct connection between Flut and fließen and Greek πλύνω.
Focke, feminine, ‘sail on the foremast,’ simply Modern High German, borrowed from Low German; compare Dutch fok, ‘foremast,’ Danish fok, Swedish fock, ‘foresail.’
Fohlen, neuter, ‘foal,’ from Middle High German vol, vole, Old High German folo, masculine, ‘colt, foal’; compare Gothic fula, masculine, ‘foal (of an ass),’ Old Icelandic fole, ‘foal’ (of a horse, rarely of an ass), Anglo-Saxon fola, masculine, English foal; a term common to Teutonic for the young of a horse or an ass, derived from pre-Teutonic pelón-, Related by gradation to Greek πῶλος, ‘colt,’ as a general term ‘young animal,’ and Latin pullus, ‘the young,’ especially of fowls. See Füllen.
Föhn, masculine, a Swiss word, ‘humid and tempestuous south wind’; the corresponding term in Middle High German is wanting, though Old High German fônna, feminine (fônno, masculine), ‘rainy wind, whirlwind,’ is recorded; from Latin favonius (the intermediate form is faunio-), whence also Italian favonio, Rhæto-Romance favuogn.
Föhre, feminine, ‘fir,’ from Middle High German vorhe, Old High German forha, feminine, ‘pine-tree’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon furh, feminine, English fir (Middle English firre, formed from Danish fyr), Old Icelandic fura, feminine, ‘fir’; Gothic *faúrhus, feminine, is wanting. If the initial f is to be regarded as in vier related to Latin quattuor, Föhre may be connected with Latin quercus, ‘oak’; for the change of meaning Eiche and Tanne might be compared. In earlier Modern High German Ferch, ‘oak,’ is also recorded once, and is akin to Old High German vereh-eih, Lombardic fereha, ‘æsculus.’ Thus the connection between Föhre and quercus (pre-Teutonic qṛku-) is certain. In any case, Feuer is not a cognate. Fichte, Birke, Buche, Föhre are the few names of trees whose existence can be traced beyond Teutonic. Compare also Kiefer.
folgen, verb, ‘to follow, succeed, result, obey,’ from the equivalent Middle High German volgen, Old High German folgên; compare Dutch volgen, Anglo-Saxon fylgan, folgian, English to follow, Old Icelandic fylgja; the verb common to West Teutonic and Scandinavian for ‘follow,’ which has supplanted the common Aryan verbal root seg (see sehen), Latin sequi. The origin of the cognates is uncertain. There are indications that the verbal stem is a compound; the first component may be voll; compare Anglo-Saxon ful-eóde, ‘he followed,’ Anglo-Saxon and Old Low German fulgangan, Old High German fola gân, ‘to follow.’ Consequently gehen (Old High German gên, gân) is the second part of the word. The composite nature of the word is supported by the fact that there are no old and widely diffused derivatives of the verb. It is true that the connection between the sense ‘to follow’ and the prefix voll has not yet been explained. —
Folge, feminine, ‘sequel, result,’ from Middle High German volge, feminine, ‘retinue, succession, forced service, pursuit,’ &c. Old High German sëlbfolga, ‘faction.’
foltern, verb, ‘to put to the rack, torture,’ from late Middle High German vultern, ‘to put on the rack.’ Akin to Folter, ‘rack,’ early ModHG only. of obscure origin. It is ​most frequently considered to be partly translated and partly borrowed from Middle Latin pulletrus, poledrus, properly ‘colt,’ which signifies ‘rack’ in Spanish and Portuguese (potro), “like Latin equuleus from equus, because it bore some resemblance to a horse.” Middle Latin poledrum is derived again from Greek πῶλος, ‘foal.’ “The wooden horse and the wooden ass — frames with a sharp-edged back, upon which the delinquents were compelled to ride — were favourite instruments of torture.”
foppen, verb, ‘to quiz, rally, banter,’ early Modern High German only, from slang.
fordern, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German vordern, Old High German fordarôn, ‘to demand, request, challenge, summon’; corresponding to Dutch vorderen; a specifically German form, originally unknown to the other dialects, yet the word found its way from German into Danish and Swedish. It is a derivative of vorder.
fördern, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German vürdern, vurdern, Old High German furdiren (also fordarôn), ‘to promote, take an active part in, help’; like fordern, from vorder.
Forelle, feminine, ‘trout,’ with a foreign accent, for the genuine dialectal (Franconian) fórelle, still existing; diminutive of an older Forene (whence *Forenle, Forelle); compare Middle High German fórelle, fórle, forhen, forhe, feminine, ‘trout,’ Old High German forhana, feminine, ‘trout’; compare also Old Low German forna, furnie, Anglo-Saxon fôrne. Probably not from Föhre, Old High German foraha, ‘the fish living near firs, in the brooks of fir forests.’ It is probably connected with the Aryan adjectives in the cognate languages, meaning ‘spotted, speckled.’ Teutonic forhana, from pre-Teutonic prknâ; compare Sanscrit pṛ́çni, ‘speckled,’ and Greek περκνός, ‘livid, dusky’ (πέρκη, ‘perch’).
Forke, feminine, see Furke.
Form, feminine, ‘form, fashion, pattern, mould,’ from Modern High German (post-classical), forme, form, feminine, ‘form, shape,’ from Latin and Romance forma.
Formel, feminine, ‘formula, form,’ late Modern High German, from Latin formula.
forschen, verb, ‘to search, investigate,’ from Middle High German vorsken, Old High German forskôn (rarely Franconian forspôn, with assimilation), ‘to demand, ask’; a form peculiar to High German, unknown to the remaining dialects, and pointing to Gothic *faúrskôn, *faúrhskôn. The sk is a derivative like Latin sc (compare dreschen, wünschen, waschen). Gothic *faúrskôn would be the normal form for faúrhskôn, like Gothic waúrstw, ‘labour,’ for waúrhstw. The Teutonic root forh is identical with the root of fragen, from the pre-Teutonic root pṛk (see fragen). An sc derivative is also seen in Latin poscere (for porscere), ‘to demand,’ as well as in the Sanscrit root pṛch, ‘to ask.’
Forst masculine, ‘forest, wood,’ from Middle High German vorst, Old High German forst, masculine, ‘wood’; also the Middle High German variants vŏrëst, fŏrest, fŏrest, fŏreist (but probably not fôrest), neuter, ‘wood, forest’; these forms are certainly of Romance origin, — Middle Latin and Romance foresta, whence French forêt. It is questionable whether the Old High German forst, vorst, masculine, are also derived from Romance. Opinions are divided on this point; some etymologists connect the Romance word with Latin foris, ‘outside’; others more probably refer Old High German forst to Old High German foraha, ‘fir’; hence forst would be literally ‘fir wood.’ Old High German forst might also be connected with Gothic faírguni, ‘mountain.’ Gothic *faúrst for faúrhst, ‘mountain forest,’ would have to be construed like the assumed Gothic *faúrskôn for *faúrhskôn, mentioned under forschen.
fort, adverb, ‘forwards, continuously, away,’ from Middle High German vort, adverb, ‘forwards, further, continuously.’ Old High German *ford is wanting; it would correspond to Old Saxon forth, Anglo-Saxon forþ, English forth; Gothic *faúrþ, and its comparative faúrþis, adverb, ‘formerly’? Fort, Old Teutonic forþ, from an earlier frþo, pṛto, is allied to vor. See fürder, fordern, fördern, and vorder.
Fracht, feminine, ‘freight, load, cargo,’ Modern High German only, from Low German fracht; compare Dutch vracht, English fraught, freight; it signified originally ‘reward, charge for conveyance,’ and afterwards ‘the load itself.’ Compare Old High German frêht (probably implying Gothic *frá-aihts), ‘earnings, reward,’ gifrêhtôn, ‘to merit’; the restricted meaning of the modern dialects is seen first in Middle Dutch and Middle English, and also passed into Romance — French fret. Compare eigen.
Frack, masculine, ‘dress coat,’ Modern High German only; compare frac, ‘dress coat’; its etymology and native source obscure, hardly to be sought for in French froc, ‘monk’s habit.’ Compare English frock.
fragen, verb, ‘to ask, inquire, interrogate,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vrâgen, Old High German frâgên (with the rare variant frâhên); corresponding to Old Saxon frâgôn, Dutch vragen; confined to the Teutons of Middle Europe (Gothic *frêhan, *frêgan), with the meaning ‘to ask,’ from a Teutonic root frē̆h, from which the Gothic preterite frah ​(frêhum) and the participle fraíhans are formed. The corresponding present has a derivative n (compare scheinen), Gothic fraíhnan, Anglo-Saxon frignan, frînan, beside which appears a form with the present in io-, Anglo-Saxon fricgan (Gothic *frigjan). For another verbal derivative of the same root see under forschen, which, like Old High German jërgôn, ‘to beg,’ has its r transposed. The following Teutonic words also belong to the root frē̆h, ÀS. frëht, ‘oracle,’ frihtrian, ‘to predict,’ fricca, ‘herald.’ The Teutonic root frē̆h is derived, according to the law of the substitution of consonants, from an Aryan root prē̆k, pṛk, which may have originally combined the meanings ‘to ask, beg’ (rogare, interrogare). Compare the primary allied forms — Sanscrit root pṛch (for pṛç-sk), ‘to ask, long for; to desire, beg for something,’ praçná, ‘inquiry,’ Zend root pares, peres, ‘to ask, demand,’ Latin prĕc- (nominative plural preces, ‘entreaties’), prscâri, ‘to beg,’ procax, ‘insolent,’ prŏcus, ‘wooer, suitor,’ Old Slovenian prositi, ‘to demand, beg.’
frank, adjective, ‘free, independent,’ first occurs in Modern High German, from French franc (Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese franco), which was again derived from the Teutonic tribal name Franken, Old High German Franchun, and may have been applied generally to any freeman. The term Franken is properly a derivative of a lost Old High German *francho, ‘javelin,’ preserved in Anglo-Saxon franca and Old Icelandic frakke; the Saxons (Sachsen) are similarly named after a weapon — Old High German Sahsun, from sahs, ‘sword’ (see Messer).
Franse, feminine, ‘fringe,’ from Middle High German franze, feminine, ‘fringe, ornament, fillet’; hence franzen, verb, ‘to fringe.’ From Romance; compare French frange, Italian frangia. “This originally French word corresponds exactly to the well-known Old High German framea, in the same way as vendange to vindemia; Fransen are pendant ‘darts’ or lace, just as the flap of a coat is a broad spear-head (see Schoß, Gehren); the etymology is both grammatically and logically unobjectionable.” Though framea has certainly not been preserved within the entire Teutonic group in the sense of ‘javelin,’ or in any other sense, yet the Latinised framea long remained current in early Middle Latin. The derivation of the Romance words from Latin fimbria, ‘fringe,’ is not free from phonetic difficulties.
Fraß, masculine, ‘devouring, gluttony, food, pasture,’ from Middle High German vrâȥ, masculine, ‘food, feeding’; akin to fressen; Old High German frâȥ, Middle High German vrâȥ, masculine, also ‘gormandiser.’
Fratze, feminine, ‘grimace, distortions, caricature,’ feminine, Modern High German only, whence Dutch fratsen, feminine plural, ‘grimaces, distortions,’ is borrowed. The absence of the word in Old High German and Middle High German favours the supposition that it was borrowed, and we are compelled to accept that view, since it is impossible to trace the word to a satisfactory Teutonic source; the proposed derivation from Anglo-Saxon frœtwe, feminine plural, ‘work of art, ornaments (carvings?),’ is phonetically impossible. The word might be finally derived from Italian frasche, plural, French frasgues, ‘tricks, hoax.’
Frau, feminine, ‘mistress, lady, wife, woman,’ from Middle High German vrouwe, Old High German frouwa, feminine, ‘mistress, gentlewoman, lady, wife, woman’; originally perhaps only a High German feminine form (‘wife of the master, mistress of the house’), of Old High German frô, ‘master,’ which became obsolete in German, just as in Romance dominus disappeared in many dialects while domina (in the forms donna, dame) was retained in the entire group; compare Schwieger. See Frohndienst. Frouwa, in the form of frua, found its way into Old Low German, and thence as frú into Scandinavian; the word remained unknown to English. The feminine form was Old Teutonic (Gothic *fraujô, feminine), and was used in Scandinavian — changed according to phonetic laws into Freyja — as the name of a goddess. In the Middle High German period frouwe was popularly connected by a graceful fancy with freuen, fröuwen; compare. Freidank’s saw, “Durch vröude vrouwen sind genant, Ir vröude ervröuwet elliu lant, Wie wol er vröude kante, Der sie êrste vrouwen nante” — “Woman is named from the joy she gives, Her favours fill the world with bliss, What a deep sense of joy had he, Who first named it woman.” See Jungfer and the following word.
Fräulein, neuter, ‘young lady, damsel, miss,’ from Middle High German vröuwelîn, neuter, diminutive of Middle High German vrouwe, ‘woman’, originally ‘noble maiden, young lady of noble birth, mistress, sweetheart,’ also ‘girl of mean rank, servant-girl.’
Frauenzimmer, neuter, ‘woman,’ from late Middle High German vrouwenzimmer, neuter, ‘women's apartment’; the connecting link in meaning is collective, ‘the body of women residing in its own apartments, the female inhabitants of the gynæceum,’ also ‘retinue of a lady of high rank,’ just as Hof (court) is used collectively of ‘the people at court.’ “The application of a collective term to an individual” is analogous to the use of ​Bursche and Kamerad; the modern sense dates from the beginning of the 17th century.
frech, adjective, ‘bold, insolent, shameless,’ from Middle High German vrëch, adjective, ‘courageous, bold, daring,’ Old High German frëh(hh), ‘covetous, greedy’; corresponding to Gothic *friks only in faíhufriks, ‘covetous, avaricious’ (with respect to faílu, ‘money,’ see Vieh), Old Icelandic frekr, ‘greedy,’ Anglo-Saxon frec, ‘daring.’ ‘Greedy’ was probably the primary meaning of the adjective stem freka- common to Teutonic; when specially applied to war it meant ‘eager for combat, daring’; Anglo-Saxon frëca acquired the meaning ‘warlike hero,’ earlier English freak, ‘hero, man.’ For early Teutonic words similarly restricted in meaning when applied to a warrior's life, see bereit, fertig, rüstig. There are derivatives of the Old Teutonic freka-, Gothic friks, in the Romance languages — Old French frique, ModProv. fricaud, ‘cheerful, lively.’ Teutonic freka-, from pre-Teutonic prĕgo-, scarcely belongs to fragen.
frei, adjective, ‘free, exempt, frank, voluntary,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vrî, Old High German frî; a common Teutonic stem frija-, ‘free’ (unknown only to Scandinavian), which is assumed by Gothic freis (accusative singular, masculine frijana), Anglo-Saxon frî, freó (from frija-), English free, Old Low German frî. From these are formed the abstracts — Gothic freihals, ‘freedom,’ literally ‘having one's neck free,’ Anglo-Saxon freóls, ‘freedom’ (also ‘peace, quiet’; compare freólsdœg, ‘holiday’). Scandinavian frjáls for the non existent *frîr, ‘free,’ is identical with these words, being used as an adjective signifying ‘with a free neck’; akin to Old High German and Middle High German frîhals, ‘freeman.’ A ring around the neck was an Old Teutonic mark of a slave. Although frija- prevails throughout the Teutonic group in its modern sense ‘free,’ to which Welsh ridd, ‘free’ (from prija-), also corresponds, yet there is some evidence that the meanings ‘dear, loved,’ once belonged to the adjective in earliest Teutonic; compare the corresponding abstract Gothic frijaþwa, ‘love,’ Anglo-Saxon freód (for *frijôdus), ‘love, favour,’ Anglo-Saxon frîgu, ‘love’ (also freódryhten, freóbearn); allied to Gothic frijôn, ‘to love,’ mentioned under Freund and Friede. All these derivatives point to a Teutonic root frî, ‘to cherish, spare, treat forbearingly’ (Middle High German vrî-ten, Gothic freidjan, ‘to spare’); frei in an active sense should perhaps be compared with held, which also denoted the relation of the higher to the meaner person. Frei is literally ‘loving, loved, spared.’ This sense is placed beyond doubt by the earlier history of the word — Gothic frija-, from pre-Teutonic priyó-; compare Sanscrit priyâ-s, ‘dear, favourite,’ from the root prî ‘to rejoice, make well-disposed,’ In Old Aryan the feminine of the adjective priyã means ‘spouse,’ also ‘daughter’; to this Old Saxon frî, and Anglo-Saxon freó, ‘wife,’ correspond. With the Sanscrit root prî, Old Slovenian prijaja (prijati), ‘to assist,’ prijateljĭ, ‘friend,’ are also connected. See Freitag, freien, Freund, Friede, Friedhof.
freien, verb, ‘to woo,’ from Middle High German vrîen, ‘to woo, marry’; unknown to Upper German, properly a Low German word, made current chiefly by Luther, Compare Dutch vrijen, ‘to sue for’ (Middle High German vrîen, ‘to set see, rescue,’ must in the main be regarded as a different word). In the sense of ‘to woo, marry,’ the verb must be directly connected with the Old Teutonic root frî, ‘to love’; compare Old Saxon frî, ‘wife, beloved.’ For the diffusion of the Teutonic root frî (from Aryan prî); see frei, Freitag, and also Freund.
freilich, adverb, from the equivalent Middle High German vrîlîche, adverb, ‘certainly, by all means,’ properly adverb from vrîlîch, ‘free, boundless.’
Freitag, masculine, ‘Friday,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vrîtac, Old High German frîatag, masculine, ‘dies Veneris’; corresponding to Dutch vrijdag, Anglo-Saxon frîgdœg, frîgedœg, English Friday, ‘dies Veneris,’ Old Icelandic Frjádagr (for which Föstadagr, ‘fast day,’ is used in Modern Icelandic); literally ‘Freia’s day’ (primitive Teutonic Frijjó), equivalent to Latin dies Veneris. Freia corresponds to Venus. Old Icelandic Frigg, like Old High German Frîa, is literally ‘lover, goddess of love’; akin to Sanscrit priyã, feminine, ‘spouse, beloved’ (Old Saxon frî, Anglo-Saxon freó, ‘wife’). See frei.
Freite, feminine, ‘wooing, courtship,’ from Middle High German vrîât, vrîâte, feminine, ‘making an offer of marriage’; abstract noun from freien; also in the same sense Middle High German vrîe; an essentially Mid. word.
fremd, adjective, ‘strange, foreign, unfamiliar, peculiar,’ from Middle High German vręmede, vręmde, ‘foreign, distant, strange, singular, rare,’ Old High German framadi, fręmidi, ‘foreign, singular’; a common Teutonic adjective for ‘foreign,’ unknown only to Scandinavian; compare Gothic framaþs, ‘foreign, estranged, excluded from,’ Anglo-Saxon fręmþe, fręmde, ‘foreign, alien, estranged’ (English obsolete), Old Saxon fręmithi, Dutch vreemd. A derivative of the stem appearing in the Gothic preposition fram, ‘far from,’ Anglo-Saxon and English from, Old High German fram, adverb, ‘away, forward.’
fressen, verb, ‘to eat greedily, devour, corrode,’ from Middle High German vrëȥȥen, Old High German frëȥȥen, ‘to eat up, consume, feed,’ of men and ​animals; derived from an earlier *fraëȥȥan, by syncope of the unaccented a, compare Gothic fraïtan, ‘to consume’ (English to fret, ‘to cut away’), with the similarly shortened preterite singular frêt, plural frêtun, for *fraét, *fraêtun. The Gothic verbal prefix occurs in other cases in Old High German as fir, far, Middle High German and Modern High German ver, and from ëȥȥen combined with this ver a new verb, verëȥȥen, is formed in Middle High German with the same meaning as frëȥȥen, which is etymologically equivalent to it. For the verbal prefix see Frevel, ver-.
Frettchen, neuter, ‘little ferret,’ diminutive of an earlier Modern High German Frett, masculine, ‘ferret,’ occurs in Modern High German from Romance; compare Italian furetto, French furet (English ferret), Middle Latin furetum, furetus. ‘ferret,’ which is based upon early Middle Latin furo, ‘polecat,’ equivalent to Latin fur, ‘thief.’
Freude, feminine, ‘joy, pleasure, delight,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vröude, vreude, Old High German fręwida, feminine; akin to freuen, Middle High German vröuwen, Old High German frouwen; see froh. For the suffix see Gemeinde, Begierde, Zierde, Beschwerde.
Freund, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German vriunt(d), Old High German friunt, masculine, ‘friend, relative’; compare Old Saxon friunt, ‘friend, relative,’ Dutch vriend, Anglo-Saxon freónd, English friend, Gothic frijônds. Gothic frijônds, and hence also the other words, are participles from an Old Teutonic and Gothic verb frijôn, ‘to love,’ Anglo-Saxon freógan, ‘to love’ (see frei); therefore the word, signifying literally ‘lover,’ is used in many dialects (even yet in Low German, Hessian, Franconian, Alsatian, Suabian, and Bavarian) for ‘relative.’ As to the formation, see Heiland, Feind.
Frevel, masculine, ‘wanton offence, outrage, sacrilege,’ from Middle High German vręvel, feminine, masculine, ‘boldness, presumption, arrogance, insolence, violence,’ Old High German fravilî, feminine, ‘boldness, daring, insolence’; abstract substantive from the Old High German adjective fravili, fręvili, Middle High German vręvele, ‘bold, proud, daring, insolent,’ Modern High German frevel, adjective; compare Anglo-Saxon frœfele, ‘daring,’ Dutch wrevel, ‘outrage.’ Connected with the High German adjective are two or three difficult forms which furnish a hint for discovering the etymology. Old High German fraballîcho, adverb with b, and frabarî, feminine, ‘audacia,’ with b and r. Parallel to Middle High German vręvel there exists a form vor-ęvel, ver-ęvel, corresponding to Middle High German ver-ëȥȥen, compared with vr-ëȥȥen. We have probably to assume a Gothic *fraabls, or rather *fra afls (compare fressen), and with this Old Icelandic afl, neuter, ‘power, strength,’ and Old High German avalôn, ‘to torment oneself, work,’ are closely connected. In Old High German fra was preserved as a fully accented prefix in adjectives, as in frá-bald, ‘daring,’ from bald, ‘bold.’ See Fracht (a compound containing Gothic fra). —
freventlich, adverb, ‘sacrilegiously,’ first occurs in Modern High German, formed like eigentlich, wesentlich, &c., from the Middle High German adjective vrevele, but with a change of the suffix l into n.
Friede, masculine, ‘peace, tranquillity, quiet,’ from Middle High German vride, masculine, ‘peace, quiet, protection,’ Old High German fridu, masculine, ‘peace’; corresponding to Old Saxon frithu, masculine, Anglo-Saxon freoþo, friþu, feminine, Old Icelandic friþr, masculine, ‘peace’; the common Teutonic word for ‘peace.’ Found in Gothic only in Friþareiks, equivalent to Friedrich (literally ‘prince of peace’); akin to Gothic gafriþôn, ‘to reconcile.’ The Teutonic form friþu- contains the suffix Þu like Gothic dau-þu-s, ‘death’; þrítu-s, from an Aryan root pri, Teutonic fri, literally ‘to love, spare’; Friede, originally ‘state of love, forbearance’ (see frei). It is worth noticing that Teutonic first coined a word for ‘peace,’ for which no common term can be found in the Aryan languages, and the same may be said of ‘Krieg.’ See Hader.
Friedhof, masculine, ‘churchyard’; the original sense is not exactly ‘peaceful enclosure,’ but rather ‘an enclosed place’; akin to Middle High German vride, ‘enclosure, a place hedged in’; Middle High German vrîthof, Old High German frîthof, ‘enclosed space around a church,’ must have given rise to Freithof. In their origin Friede and Middle High German vrît-hof are of course allied; yet vrît-hof must be connected chiefly with Gothic frei-djan, ‘to spare,’ Old High German frîten, ‘to cherish, love, protect’; akin also to einfriedigen.
frieren, verb, ‘to freeze, feel cold, be chilled,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vriesen (participle, gevrorn), Old High German friosan (participle gifroran); the change of s into r has obtained in all parts of the verb, yet s has been preserved in Frieseln and Frost. Compare Dutch vriezen, Anglo-Saxon freósan, English to freeze, Old Icelandic frjósa; Gothic *friusan is wanting, but may be inferred with certainty from frius, neuter, ‘frost, cold.’ The change of s into r is also shown by Anglo-Saxon freórig, adjective, ‘freezing, frosty, stiff,’ Old Icelandic frer, neuter plural, ‘frost, cold.’ The Teutonic root is freus, fruz, from the pre-Teutonic root preus, prū̆s. It appears to lie at the base of Latin prûrio for *prusio, ‘to itch,’ if the connecting link in meaning is to be found in the ‘piercing, itching, burning nature of frost.’ Old Indian has a root pruš, ‘to inject a substance,’ which is more ​remote in meaning; akin to Latin pruîna, ‘rime’ (for *prusvîna); Sanscrit prušvá, ‘drop, frozen drop, rime.’ Under no circumstances can the word be connected with Latin frigere.
Fries, masculine, also Friese, feminine,‘frieze (cloth and part of a column),’ Modern High German only, formerly also in the sense of ‘coarse woollen stuff’; from French frise, feminine, whence English frieze; the French word, like its Romance cognates, is itself derived from Teutonic; comp Anglo-Saxon frise, ‘curled,’ English to friz, frizzle, Old Frisian frisle, ‘hair of the head.’
Frieseln, participle plural, ‘miliary fever,’ Modern High German only, from frieren, which represents an earlier friesen.
flisch, adjective,‘fresh, cool, raw (of a wound),’ from Middle High German vrisc, Old High German frisc, adjective, ‘new, young, cheerful, active, pert’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon fërsc, English fresh, Old Icelandic ferskr, ‘fresh.’ The further origin is obscure; on account of its meaning Latin priscus (akin to prior, prius) cannot be allied; perhaps Old High German frisc is derived from früh, Old High German fruo. The High German word found its way at an early period into Romance (comp, Italian fresco, French frais), and into English (frisk).
Frischling, masculine, ‘young wild-boar,’ from Middle High German vrischinc, vrischlinc, masculine; a derivative of frisch with the suffixes -ing, -ling. The Old High German frisking (fruscing), ‘beast of offering,’ was adopted by Old French as fresange, ‘young pig.’
frisieren, verb, ‘to curl, dress the hair,’ Modern High German only, from French friser, which is again derived from the cognates mentioned at the end of the article Fries.
Frist, feminine, ‘period, appointed time, respite,’ from Middle High German vrist, feminine, Old High German frist, feminine, (neuter), ‘limited period, postponement, space of time’; Old Saxon frist, Anglo-Saxon first, masculine, Old Icelandic frest, neuter plural, ‘postponement.’ Probably not derived from the root fri (see frei), ‘to love.’ It might more reasonably be connected with the Gothic verbal particle fri in frisahts, if the meaning of the latter were clear. See also Rist
froh, adjective, ‘glad, joyous, happy,’ from Middle High German vrô (genitive vrôwes, vrouwes), Old High German frô (inflected form frawêr), ‘glad’; corresponding to Old Saxon frao (genitive *frawes, frahes), Middle Dutch vro, ‘glad’; a corresponding word in English is wanting. Old Icelandic frár, ‘quick, nimble,’ closely agrees in sound; with respect to the meaning, compare the analogous glatt and English glad. Thus the sensuous meaning ‘nimble’ might be taken as the starting-point. If the Scandinavian word be disregarded, ‘gracious, friendly,’ might be assumed as the primary meaning, in order to connect the word with the expressions for ‘master, lord,’ mentioned under frohn.
frohlocken, verb, ‘to exult, triumph, shout for joy,’ from Middle High German vrôlocken (rare), ‘jubilate’; according to Middle High German vrô-sanc, ‘song of joy, hallelujah,’ probably a corruption of an earlier form, frôleichen; Old High German and Middle High German *vrô-leich would be also literally ‘song of joy.’ English to frolic is derived from Dutch vrolijk, ‘joyous.’
frohn, adjective, ‘lordly, holy,’ now only preserved as the first component in archaic compounds; from Middle High German vrôn, adjective, ‘relating to the master or lord, sacred.’ In Old High German there appears instead of an adjective *frôn a petrified form frôno, ‘magnificent, divine, sacred,’ which is properly a genitive plural of frô, ‘lord’ (used only in the vocative). In Middle High German vrôn appears in numerous compounds for the temporal lord, as well as for the κύριος, ‘the lord,’ κατ’ ἐξοχήν, ‘Christ’; compare Middle High German vrônlîchnam, masculine, ‘Christ’s body, the host,’ Modern High German Frohnleihnam; Middle High German vrônkriuze, Old High German daz frôno chrûzi, ‘the cross of Christ’; Middle High German vrônalter, ‘high altar,’ &c.; also vrônhof, ‘mansion,’ vrônwalt, ‘a wood belonging to the lord,’ vrônrëht, ‘public right.’ Modern High German retained Frohndienst, from Middle High German vrôndienst; see fröhnen. As to Old High German frô,‘O lord,’ stress must be laid on its correspondence to Anglo-Saxon freá, ‘lord,’ as well as Old Saxon frao. Gothic has a form with j, frauja, masculine (Anglo-Saxon frêgea), ‘lord,’ which is seen in High German in the feminine forms Old High German frouwa, Middle High German vrouwe, Gothic *fraujô, With these some connect in Scandinavian the names of the deities Freyr and Freyja. Whether the stem fraun-, for frawun- and fraujan-, in the sense of ‘gracious, friendly,’ is allied to the adjective froh, ‘glad,’ remains to be proved. Compare Frau.
Frohne, feminine, ‘compulsory service, villeinage,’ from Middle High German vrône, feminine, ‘villein socage.’ See frohn.
fröhnen, frohnen, verb, ‘to serve,’ from Middle High German vrônen (vrœnen) ‘to serve, perform villein socage.’ See frohn, Frohne.
fromm, adjective, ‘worthy, pious, harmless,’ from Middle High German vrum (inflected form vrumer), adjective, ‘able, excellent, good, gallant, conducive.’ The adjective is properly a substantive (compare Schade); Middle High German frum, fruma, Old High German fruma, ‘use, advantage’ (frummen, ‘to ​promote, accomplish’). Akin to the Anglo-Saxon forms with a gradation, fram, adjective, ‘brave, conducive,’ fremman, ‘to promote, accomplish’; compare Old Icelandic framr, ‘preferable,’ and fremja, ‘to execute.’ Also allied more remotely to the Old Teutonic terms for ‘primus.’ See Fürst, fort, fürder, &c.
Frosch, masculine, ‘frog,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vrosch, Old High German frosk, masculine; corresponding to Dutch vorsch, Anglo-Saxon forsc (English dialectic frosk), Old Icelandic froskr, ‘from’; Gothic *frusqa- is by chance not recorded. Before the derivative sk a guttural has dropped out, as is seen in the cognate terms. Anglo-Saxon frogga, English frog, would be in Gothic *frugga (*frugwa?); also akin to Anglo-Saxon frocca, earlier English dialectic frock, as well as Old Icelandic fraukr, ‘frog’ (so too Middle English frûte, froute, ‘toad’). Gothic *frusqa-, for *fruhsqa-, therefore be connected with a root ending in a guttural; perhaps the pre-Teutonic root pruk?. Hence the attempts to connect the word with frisch or frieren, to which the meaning is also opposed, must be rejected.
Frost, masculine, ‘frost, cold, chill,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vrost, Old High German frost, masculine; compare Dutch vorst, Anglo-Saxon forst, English frost, Old Icelandic frost, neuter, ‘frost, cold’; a common Teutonic abstract of frieren, Gothic *friusan. Gothic *frusta-, masculine, neuter, ‘frost,’ is wanting.
Frucht, feminine, ‘fruit, crop, product,’ from Middle High German vruht, Old High German fruht, feminine, ‘fruit’; corresponding to Old Saxon fruht, Dutch vrucht, Old Frisian frucht. Based on Latin fructus, which perhaps at the same period as Pflanze and a number of botanical terms, found its way into German.
früh, adjective, adverb, ‘early, premature(ly),’ from Middle High German vrüeje, adjective, ‘early,’ vruo, adverb, ‘early’ (hence sometimes the Modern High German fruh unmodified); Old High German fruoji, adjective fruo, adverb, ‘early’; compare Dutch vroeg, adjective and adverb, ‘early.’ Gothic *frô (or rather *frauô for *frôô?), adverb, is wanting. Pre-Teutonic prô- appears also in Greek πρωΐ, ‘early, early in the morning,’ πρωΐα, feminine, ‘morning,’ πρώϊος, ‘early’; akin to Sanscrit prâtar, adverb, ‘early in the morning.’ Allied more remotely to vor, Fürst, vordere, &c. (also frisch?). It is curious that the Old Aryan adverb, in the sense of ‘early in the morning,’ is restricted to German. In Scandinavian, English, and Gothic it is wanting; the words used being Gothic air, Old Icelandic ár, Anglo-Saxon œ̂r, ‘early in the morning’ (see ehe). Moreover, its special meaning was universally diffused at an early period. See Frühling.
Frühling, masculine, ‘spring,’ a derivative of früh, early Modern High German only — from the 15th century; Lenz is the old West Teutonic term.
Fuchs, masculine, ‘fox, light bay horse, cunning person, freshman (univ.)’ from the equivalent Middle High German vuhs, Old High German fuhs, masculine; corresponding to Dutch vos, Anglo-Saxon and English fox; Gothic *faúhs-, masculine (weak substantive), is not found. The s is a masculine suffix, as in Luchs; it is wanting, therefore, in the older feminine form, Old High German foha, Middle High German vohe, feminine, ‘vixen’ (also ‘fox,’ equivalent to Gothic faúhô, feminine, ‘fox,’ Old Icelandic foa, ‘fox’). Old Icelandic fox, neuter, is used only in the figurative sense of ‘deceit.’ The Modern High German feminine form Füchsin corresponds to Anglo-Saxon fyxen, English vixen. Gothic faúhô, feminine, from pre-Teutonic púkâ, makes it appear possible to connect the word phonetically with Modern High German Vogel, Gothic fugls, pre-Teutonic pukló-s, in case Sanscrit puccha, ‘tail, train,’ is of a cognate stem; Fuchs and Vogel, meaning ‘tailed creatures,’ is quite possible. At all events, there is no connection with Latin L. vulpes.
Fuchtel, feminine, earlier Modern High German Fochtel, ‘broadsword, a blow struck with it,’ first occurs in Modern High German; akin to feckten.
Fuder, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German vuoder, Old High German fuodar, neuter, ‘measure (varying from 36 to 72 bushels, of wine about 1200 bottles), waggon-load’; compare Old Saxon fôthar, Dutch voer, Anglo-Saxon fôþer, ‘measure, waggon-load,’ English fother, fodder, a term in mining. Hence the common West Teutonic term fôþr, neuter, ‘waggon-load,’ from the Teutonic root faþ in Faden. From High German, French foudre is derived.
Fug, masculine, ‘adaptedness, due authority, right,’ from Middle High German vuoc(g), masculine, ‘propriety,’ as well as the equivalent vuoge, feminine, Modern High German Fuge, akin to fügen.
Fuge, feminine, ‘fugue,’ first occurs in early Modern High German, from Italian fuga.
fügen, verb, ‘to fit together, connect’; (reflexive) ‘to accommodate oneself,’ from Middle High German vüegen, Old High German fuogen, ‘to shape or unite suitably’; compare Dutch voegen, Anglo-Saxon gefêgan, English to fay (‘to suit, unite’); Gothic *fôgjan, ‘to make suitable,’ is a factitive of the Teutonic root fag, in Gothic fagrs, ‘suitable, fitted,’ whose nearer cognates are to be found under fegen; English to fadge (‘to suit, join’), may also be mentioned here.
fühlen, verb, ‘to feel, be sensible of, be sensitive to,’ a Middle German and Low German word incorporated in literary German since Luther's time (in Suabian and Alemannian spüren and merken, ​and in Bavarian empfinden are need); from the equivalent Middle High German vüelen, Old High German fuolen (Old High German also ‘to touch’); compare Old Saxon gifôlian, Dutch voelen, Anglo-Saxon fêlan, English to feel; a common West Teutonic word for ‘to feel’ (Gothic *fôljan). Akin to Old Icelandic falma, to grope.’ With the Teutonic root fôl, fal, an old term for ‘hand’ is connected; Old Saxon folm, Anglo-Saxon folm, Old High German folma, ‘hand’ (primitively allied to Sanscrit pâṇ, Greek παλάμη, Latin palma, Old Irish lám for *plâma).
Fuhre, feminine, ‘journey, conveyance, waggon, cart-load,’ from Middle High German vuore, feminine, journey, way, street, escort, food for a ‘journey, fodder,’ Old High German fuora; compare Anglo-Saxon fôr, feminine, ‘journey,’ also ‘vehicle’; akin to fahren. See also führen.
führen, verb, ‘to carry, conduct, deal in, manage,’ from Middle High German vüeren, Old High German fuoren, ‘to put in motion, guide, lead’; a factitive of fahren (Old High German faran), like Modern High German leiten, a factitive of Old High German lîdan, ‘to go, drive’; compare Old Saxon fôrian, Dutch voeren, ‘to lead,’ Old Icelandic fœra, ‘to bring.’ Gothic *fôrjan is wanting; Anglo-Saxon fêran means ‘to go, march.’ Hence the sense ‘to lead’ is essentially German.
füllen, verb, ‘to fill,’ from Middle High German vüllen, Old High German fullen, ‘to make full’; a derivative of voll. Compare Gothic fulljan, Old Icelandic fylla, Anglo-Saxon fyllan, English to fill, Dutch vullen, Old Saxon fullian, ‘to fill’; also voll. —
Fülle, feminine, ‘abundance, plenty,’ from Middle High German vülle, Old High German fullî, ‘fulness’; compare Gothic ufarfallei, feminine, ‘superabundance.’
Füllen, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German vülîn, Old High German fulîn, neuter, besides Middle High German vüle, Old High German fulî, neuter, ‘foal’; for the affix -în-, denoting the young of animals, see under Schwein. Based upon Fohlen (Goth fula); hence *ful-ein, neuter has to be assumed in Gothic; compare Middle Low German völen, Dutch veulen, Old Icelandic fyl. Another derivative of ful- is Old High German fulihha, Middle High German vülhe, feminine, ‘filly,’ pointing to Gothic *fuliki.
Füllsel, neuter, ‘stuffing,’ from the equivalent late Middle High German vülsel, neuter; a derivative of voll with modification; for the suffix -sel, from Old High German isal, Gothic isl, see Rätsel.
Fund, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German vunt, masculine, ‘finding, discovery, find’; allied to finden; compare Dutch vond, ‘discovery, invention,’ Old Icelandic fundr, fyndr.
fünf, card. numeral, ‘five,’ from Middle High German vünf, Old High German funf, also earlier finf; corresponding to Gothic fimf, Old Icelandic fimm, Anglo-Saxon fif, English five, Dutch vijf, Old Saxon fîf. Gothic fimf, from pre-Teutonic pempe, pénqe (for the permutation of Aryan q to Teutonic f see Föhre, vier, Wolf); compare Sanscrit páñcan, Greek πέντε (πέμπε, πέμπτος), Latin quinque (for *pinque), Lithuanian penkí, Old Irish cóic, Welsh pimp; a common Teutonic term, like all numbers from 2 to 10; the oldest form is pénqe, pénke. The attempts to discover the root with some such meaning as ‘hand,’ and to connect the word with Finger, have produced no result. The Aryan numerals are presented to us as compact forms, the origin of which is obscure. The ordinal fünfte is, like all ordinals, a derivative of an old form; Gothic fimfta, Old High German fimfto, funfto, Middle High German vünfte; Dutch vijfde, Anglo-Saxon fîfta, English fifth. Compare Latin quintus for *pinctus, Greek πέμπτος, Sanscrit pañcathas, Lithuanian pènktas.
Funke, masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German (not a classical form) vunke, masculine, Old High German funcho, masculine, ‘spark’; compare Dutch vonk, ‘spark,’ Middle Low German and Middle English funke, ‘small fire, spark,’ English funk, ‘round wood, steam, stink.’ Classical Middle High German has vanke, masculine. It is uncertain whether Gothic fôn (genitive fŭnins), ‘fire,’ is allied; it is more probable that Sanscrit pâjas, ‘splendour, gleam of light,’ is primitively cognate.
für, preposition, ‘for, in behalf of,’ from Middle High German vür, Old High German furi, ‘before, for’; compare Old Saxon furi, ‘before’; a German preposition simply, allied to those discussed under vor. —
fürbaß, adverb, ‘forward, further,’ from Middle High German vürbaȥ. adverb, from für and baß.
Furche, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German vurch (plural vürhe), Old High German furuh, feminine, ‘furrow’; compare Dutch voor, Anglo-Saxon furk, feminine, English furrow (akin to Anglo-Saxon and English furlong, ‘the length of a furrow’); Old Icelandic for, feminine, ‘drain, watercourse.’ Gothic *faúrhus, feminine, is wanting. It is based upon pre-Teutonic pṛk-; compare Latin porca, ‘ridge between two furrows,’ and porculetum, ‘field divided into beds’; akin also to Armenian herk, ‘freshly fallow land,’ Welsh rhych (Old Gallic *ricâ, Old Irish rech), masculine, feminine, ‘furrow,’ from the base pṛkâ.
Furcht, feminine, ‘fear, terror, fright,’ from Middle High German vorhte, vorht, feminine, ‘fear, anxiety, apprehension,’ Old High German and Old Saxon forhta, forahta; abstract of fürchten. In Anglo-Saxon a modified abstract is found; compare Anglo-Saxon fyrhto (Gothic faurhtei), hence English fright, whence to frighten, to fright; English fear (see Gefahr), is not a cognate.
fürchten, ‘to fear, dread,’ from Middle High German vürhten (preterite vorhte), Old High German furihten, forahtan (preterite forahta), ‘to be afraid’; compare Old Saxon forahtjan, Anglo-Saxon ​forhtian; Dutch and Scandinavian are wanting; Gothic faurhtjan, ‘to fear, be afraid,’ with the participle faúrhts, ‘timid,’ used as an adjective. The dental of the verb, which was probably strong originally, is a suffix of the present stem, hence Teutonic farh-tjan; the corresponding abstract Old High German forh-ta is formed like Schande. To the Teutonic root forh (Aryan prk?, qerk?), Latin querquerus, ‘shivering,’ and Greek καρκαίρω, ‘to tremble,’ have been allied.
fürder, adverb, ‘further,’ from Middle High German vürder, Old High German furdir, adverb, ‘further in front, further on, away’; apparently an oblique form of the comparative neuter, like Gothic faurþis, ‘formerly,’ from fort, Gothic *faurþ; Anglo-Saxon furþor, adverb, ‘forward, further, more distantly’ (Gothic *faúrþôs), English further. See fort.
Furke, feminine, ‘pitchfork,’ from Middle High German furke, Old High German furcha, feminine, ‘fork’; compare Dutch vork, Anglo-Saxon and English fork; from Latin furca, introduced early in the Old High German period along with Southern horticulture.
Fürst, masculine, ‘‘sovereign, chief, prince,’ from Middle High German vürste, masculine, ‘the highest, most distinguished, ruler, prince,’ Old High German furisto, Old Saxon furisto, Dutch vorst, ‘prince’; like Herr, simply a German form. Just as Herr is originally a comparative of hehr, so is Fürst properly a superlat. meaning ‘first’; compare Old High German furist, Anglo-Saxon fyrst, English first, Old Icelandic fyrstr; Gothic *faúrista is wanting; the corresponding comparative is Old High German furiro, ‘the former, preferable,’ Old Icelandic fyrre, ‘former.’ The usual Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon word for ‘first’ is formo, forma, with the suffix ma (Gothic fruma); from Aryan pṛ like Greek πρόμος, Sanscrit pûrva-s, Old Slovenian prŭvŭ, Lithuanian pírmas, ‘first.’ It is evident that also vor, für, fort, &c., are derivatives of this Aryan root pṛ.
Furt, feminine (Upper German masculine also), ‘ford,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German vurt, masculine; compare Old Saxon *ford in Heriford (literally ‘lord's ford’), Hereford; Middle Dutch vord, Anglo-Saxon ford, masculine, English ford; compare Anglo-Saxon Oxenaford (literally ‘oxen's ford’), ‘Oxford’ (also Schweinfurt, Erfurt). Gothic *faúrdus, ‘ford,’ is wanting. It belongs to the Teutonic root far, ‘to go, march,’ and hence signifies literally ‘a frequented, passable spot’; compare Greek πόρος, ‘ford,’ which has a cognate root, and βόσπορος with Oxford; also Zend peretu, ‘bridge’ (Euphrates, literally ‘having many bridges’?); so too Latin portus, ‘port’; Old Icelandic fjǫrðr, m, ‘bay.’ Latin -ritum (for *pritum) in Augustoritum, from Keltic, is also allied to this word.
fuschen, verb, ‘to perform hastily, cheat,’ Modern High German only, of obscure origin.
Fusel, masculine ‘bad brandy,’ probably from chemical technology (Latin fusilis, ‘liquid’?).
Fuß, masculine, ‘foot, base, pedestal, footing,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vuoȥ, Old High German fuoȥ, masculine, ‘foot’; a common Teutonic and more remotely a common Aryan term for ‘foot’; compare Gothic fôtus, Old Icelandic fótr, Anglo-Saxon fôt, English foot, Dutch voet, Old Saxon fôt. The Teutonic fôt- (weak substantive), from Aryan pôd-, which interchanged with Aryan pŏd- and pĕd in declension. Compare Greek ποδ- in πόδα, nominative singular πούς (Æolic πώς); Latin pĕd-em, nominative singular pes; πέδιλον, ‘sandal,’ πεζός (for πεδjός), ‘on foot’; o gradation in Latin tripudium; Old Indian nominative singular pâd (locat. padí), ‘foot,’ padá, neuter, ‘tread, footstep.’ The e gradation is preserved in Teutonic by Old Icelandic fet, neuter, ‘step,’ but as a measure ‘foot’ (Lithuanian pėdà, ‘mark of the foot’); akin to Old Icelandic feta, ‘to find the way,’ Old High German fëȥȥan, ‘to go.’ Respecting Old Icelandic fjǫturr see Fessel; Old Icelandic fit, feminine, ‘the skin of birds between the claws.’ Middle English fetlak, English fetlock; thus too Middle High German viȥȥeloch, ‘hough,’ earlier Modern High German Fitzloch; they are derivatives (not compounds) of *fet-, ‘foot.’ —
Fußstapfe, feminine, ‘footstep, trace,’ from stapfen; often divided wrongly into Fuß-tapfe, which would originate in a verb tapfen for stapfen.
Futter, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German vuoter, Old High German fuotar, neuter, ‘nourishment, food, fodder, lining, case’; compare Dutch voeder, neuter ‘fodder, lining’; Anglo-Saxon fôdor, neuter English fodder; Old Icelandic fóðr, neuter, ‘fodder’; Gothic fôdr, neuter, ‘scabbard.’ Two really different words seem to have converged phonetically in this term. Gothic *fôdr, ‘nourishment,’ seems to be connected with Anglo-Saxon fôda, ‘nourishment,’ English food, Gothic fôdjan, Anglo-Saxon fêdan, English to feed, and consequently with a Teutonic root fôd, fad (compare Old High German fatunga, ‘nourishment, food’), from Aryan pā̆t, which also appears in Greek πατέομαι, ‘to eat’; likewise akin to Anglo-Saxon fôstor, ‘maintenance,’ English to foster, foster-brother, &c. The second, Futter, ‘case,’ Gothic fôdr, ‘sheath,’ has been thought to be allied to Sanscrit pãtra-m, neuter, ‘vessel, receptacle.’ The Teutonic cognates in both senses found their way into Romance; compare Provençal and Old French fuerre (Modern French feurre), ‘sheath,’ formed from Gothic fôdr, Old High German fuotar, ‘sheath,’ Modern French feurre, ‘straw for feeding cattle,’ Modern French fourreau, ‘case, sheath,’ &c.
Futteral, neuter, ‘case, lining, sheath,’ Modern High German only, from Middle Latin fotrale, a derivative of Old High German fôtar, Middle High German vuoter; compare Futter.
füttern, verb, equivalent to Middle High German vüetern, vuotern, ‘to feed, nourish,’ Old High German fuotiren (Gothic *fôdrjan); a derivative of Futter, ‘nourishment.’