An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/fallen

by Friedrich Kluge

fallen, verb, ‘to fall, abate, diminish,’ from the equivalent Middle High German valn, Old High German fallan; the common Teutonic word for ‘to fall’ (singularly, however, it is unknown to Gothic); compare Old Icelandic falla, Anglo-Saxon feallan, English to fall, Old Saxon fallan. The Teutonic root fal-l, pre-Teutonic phal-n., appears in Greek and Sanscrit as sphal with an s prefixed; compare Greek σφάλλω, ‘to fell, overthrow,’ σφάλλομαι, ‘to fall, be deceived.’ Latin fallo is based directly upon the root phal, ‘to deceive’; Sanscrit root sphal, ‘to stagger’; also Lithuanian pǔlu, púlti, ‘to fall,’; and akin to Sanscrit phala, ‘ripe, falling fruit’?. —