An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/eilen

by Friedrich Kluge

eilen, vb., ‘to hasten, hurry,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and MidLG. îlen, OHG. îlen (îllen from îljan); akin to AS. ĭle, OFris. ile, OIc. il (gen. iljar), ‘sole of the foot.’ If the l be accepted as a deriv., as it often is in other words, we obtain the widely diffused root ī̆, ‘to go,’ as the source of the cognates; comp. Gr. ἱέναι Lat. ire, Sans. root i, ‘to go,’ OSlov. iti, Lith. eíti, ‘to go.’ See gehen.