An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Fetzen

by Friedrich Kluge

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.’