An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pips

by Friedrich Kluge

Pips, masculine, ‘pip,’ a Low German and Middle German form for the earlier Modern High German Pfipfs, from Middle High German and Old High German pfiffī̆z pfiffī̆ȥ, pfipfī̆ȥ, masculine, ‘pip’ (horny pellicle on the tip of a fowl's tongue). Borrowed at the beginning of the Old High German period or earlier (perhaps contemporaneously with Flaum and Kissen?) from Middle Latin pipita, whence also Italian pipita, French pépie; likewise Dutch and English pip. The ultimate source of all the cognates is Latin pī̆tuîta, ‘slime, phlegm, pip.’ In Henneberg the equivalent Zipf originated in the same primary word through the intermediate form *tipwita.