An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Vogel

by Friedrich Kluge

Vogel, masculine, ‘bird, fowl,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vogel, Old High German fogal, masculine; a common Teutonic term; compare Gothic fugls, Anglo-Saxon fugol. English fowl, Dutch vogel, Old Saxon fugal, masculine, ‘bird.’ This specifically Teutonic word has no exact correspondence in non-Teutonic. Teutonic fugla- is perhaps derived from the Teutonic root flug, ‘to fly,’ thus connecting the word with Geflügel (for which gevügele occurs, however, in Middle High German) as the collective of Vogel. Others prefer to connect it with Fuchs, which is regarded as ‘the animal with a tail.’ There is no term in Teutonic corresponding to Latin avis, Sanscrit vi, ‘bird.’