An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Fackel

by Friedrich Kluge

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.’