An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Volk

by Friedrich Kluge

Volk, neuter, ‘people, nation, soldiery, troops,’ from the equivalent Middle High German volc (k), Old High German folc, neuter (rarely masculine); corresponding to Old Saxon folk, Dutch volk, Anglo-Saxon folc, English folk; Old Icelandic fólk, ‘people, troops, detachment.’ The latter seems to be the primary meaning, from which Lithuanian pulkas, ‘heap, crowd,’ and Old Slovenian plŭkŭ, ‘troops,’ are borrowed. The connection of the word with Latin vulgus is uncertain, for it is very dubious whether the Latin word and the Teutonic cognates can be based on a primary form, qelgos, qolgos.