An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Franse

by Friedrich Kluge

Franse, f., ‘fringe,’ from MidHG. franze, f., ‘fringe, ornament, fillet’; hence franzen, vb., ‘to fringe.’ From Romance; comp. Fr. frange, Ital. frangia. “This orig. Fr. word corresponds exactly to the well-known OHG. framea, in the same way as vendange to vindemia; Fransen are pendant ‘darts’ or lace, just as the flap of a coat is a broad spear-head (see Schoß, Gehren); the etymology is both grammatically and logically unobjectionable.” Though framea has certainly not been preserved within the entire Teut. group in the sense of ‘javelin,’ or in any other sense, yet the Latinised framea long remained current in early MidLat. The derivation of the Romance words from Lat. fimbria, ‘fringe,’ is not free from phonetic difficulties.