An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Furt
Furt, feminine (Upper German masculine also), ‘ford,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German vurt, masculine; compare Old Saxon *ford in Heriford (literally ‘lord's ford’), Hereford; Middle Dutch vord, Anglo-Saxon ford, masculine, English ford; compare Anglo-Saxon Oxenaford (literally ‘oxen's ford’), ‘Oxford’ (also Schweinfurt, Erfurt). Gothic *faúrdus, ‘ford,’ is wanting. It belongs to the Teutonic root far, ‘to go, march,’ and hence signifies literally ‘a frequented, passable spot’; compare Greek πόρος, ‘ford,’ which has a cognate root, and βόσπορος with Oxford; also Zend peretu, ‘bridge’ (Euphrates, literally ‘having many bridges’?); so too Latin portus, ‘port’; Old Icelandic fjǫrðr, m, ‘bay.’ Latin -ritum (for *pritum) in Augustoritum, from Keltic, is also allied to this word.