An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Futter

by Friedrich Kluge

Futter, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German vuoter, Old High German fuotar, neuter, ‘nourishment, food, fodder, lining, case’; compare Dutch voeder, neuter ‘fodder, lining’; Anglo-Saxon fôdor, neuter English fodder; Old Icelandic fóðr, neuter, ‘fodder’; Gothic fôdr, neuter, ‘scabbard.’ Two really different words seem to have converged phonetically in this term. Gothic *fôdr, ‘nourishment,’ seems to be connected with Anglo-Saxon fôda, ‘nourishment,’ English food, Gothic fôdjan, Anglo-Saxon fêdan, English to feed, and consequently with a Teutonic root fôd, fad (compare Old High German fatunga, ‘nourishment, food’), from Aryan pā̆t, which also appears in Greek πατέομαι, ‘to eat’; likewise akin to Anglo-Saxon fôstor, ‘maintenance,’ English to foster, foster-brother, &c. The second, Futter, ‘case,’ Gothic fôdr, ‘sheath,’ has been thought to be allied to Sanscrit pãtra-m, neuter, ‘vessel, receptacle.’ The Teutonic cognates in both senses found their way into Romance; compare Provençal and Old French fuerre (Modern French feurre), ‘sheath,’ formed from Gothic fôdr, Old High German fuotar, ‘sheath,’ Modern French feurre, ‘straw for feeding cattle,’ Modern French fourreau, ‘case, sheath,’ &c.