An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Furche

by Friedrich Kluge

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.