An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/viel

by Friedrich Kluge

viel, adv. and adj., ‘much,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vil, vile, OHG. filu, subst. and adv.; properly the neut. of a pre-Teut. adj. felu-, of which, however, the OTeut. dialects have preserved only scanty relics; comp. Goth. filu (and the gen. filaus, adv., ‘by much’), AS. feolu (feala), Du. veel, OSax. filu, ‘much.’ The Teut. adj. filu, from *fëlu-, is based on Aryan adj. pelu (polú-), from which Sans. purú, OPers. paru, Gr. πολύ-, OIr. il, ‘much,’ are derived; so too Lat. pollere, ‘to be strong.’ The root of these cognates is the same as in voll, which see. The disappearance of the old adj. felu- was due chiefly to the cognates of mancher (Goth. manags); yet the other Aryan languages use the adj. only sparingly. —