An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Fries

by Friedrich Kluge

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.’