An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Floß

by Friedrich Kluge

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).