Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/103

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latter is derived from Lat. Gr. fasianus (φασιανός, ‘a bird from the Phasis in Colchis’), ‘pheasant,’ whence also Ital. fagiano, Fr. faisan.

Fasching, m., ‘carnival,’ from MidHG. vaschanc, m., ‘Shrovetide’; how it is connected with Fastnacht (Shrove-Tuesday) has not yet been explained.

faseln, vb., ‘to talk irrationally,’ only in ModHG., a derivative of OHG. fasôn, ‘to track, seek here and there’; but the latter word is probably not from the root fas in Faser.

Faser, f., ‘fibre, filament,’ from late MidHG. vaser, f., ‘fringe,’ most frequently vase, m., f., ‘fibre, fringe, border,’ OHG. faso, m., fasa, f.; AS. fœs, n., MidE. fasil, ‘fringe.’

Fasnacht, see Fastnacht.

fassen, vb., ‘to hold, grasp, comprehend,’ (refl.) ‘to make up one's mind,’ from MidHG. vaȥȥen, OHG. faȥȥôn, ‘to handle, seize, load, pack, arm oneself, dress, go’; it seems to be a combination of two or more really different roots. Comp. OIc. fǫt, neu. plur., ‘garments’ (Goth. *fata, ‘garments,’ may be deduced from Span. hato, Port. fato, ‘stock of clothes, wardrobe’); the West Teut. fat (see Faß), has not this meaning, but MidHG. (OHG.) vaȥȥen, ‘to dress oneself, points that way. In the sense ‘to seize,’ the word may be connected with Faß, lit. ‘engulphing,’ from which the meaning ‘to load’ would be evolved. In the sense of ‘to go’ (sich vaȥȥen, MidHG.) it must probably be connected with Fuß, or more closely with AS. fœt, ‘step.’ See Fetzen, Fitze.

fast, adv., ‘almost, nearly,’ from MidHG. vaste, vast, adv. (from vęste, ‘firm’), ‘firmly, strongly, powerfully, very, very quickly,’ OHG. vasto, adv., from fęsti; similar unmutated advs. from mutated adjs. are schon from schön, spat from spät. ModHG. has also turned fest into an adv., the older adv. fast having been specialised in meaning; even in MidHG. vęste is an adv.

fasten, vb., ‘to fast,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vasten, OHG. fastên; comp. Goth. fastan, OIc. fasta, AS. fœstan, E. to fast, Du. vasten; a common Teut. verb, invariably used in the sense of ‘to fast,’ which, therefore, was probably a religions conception even of the heathen Teutons. The corresponding abstract is Goth. fastubni, AS. fœsten, OSax. fastunnia, OHG. fasta, fasto, m., MidHG. vaste, f., vasten, n., ‘fast,’ whence Slav. postŭ, ‘fast, was borrowed at

an early period. The cognates are probably connected with fest in the sense of ‘to contain oneself, exercise restraint in eating and drinking,’ or ‘to obey a religious precept’; comp. Goth. fastan, ‘to adhere to, hold, observe.’ —

Fastnacht, f., ‘Shrove Tuesday,’ from MidHG. vasenaht, ‘eve of the first day of Lent.’ According to the OTeut. computation of time (comp. Abend) the evening and night were counted as part of the following day (thus in AS. frîgeœ̂fen, ‘Thursday evening,’ frîgeniht, ‘Thursday night’). The meaning given above did not belong to the word originally. The first part of the compound is an old verb faseln, ‘to play the fool’; the form Fastnacht may have been introduced by the priests.

Faß, n., ‘vessel, cask, vat,’ from MidHG. vaȥ, OHG. faȥ(ȥȥ), n., ‘cask, vessel, chest’; corresponds to MidLG. and Du. vat, AS. fœt, ‘vessel, receptacle, chest’ (E. vat), OIc. fat, ‘cask.’ The prim. signification of those cognates (pre-Teut. podo-) may have been ‘receptacle,’ and since Fessel is an allied word, we have to postulate the meaning ‘to hold together’ for the Teut. root fat. Lith. pũdas, ‘pot, vessel,’ would be in Goth. *fôta- instead of *fata-. ModHG. Gefäß is not an immediate derivative of Faß, because it assumes a Goth. *gafêti, n., See fassen, Fetzen, Fitze.

faul, adj., ‘rotten, worthless, lazy,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and MidLG. vûl, OHG. fûl; comp. Du. vuil, AS. fûl, E. foul, OIc. fúll, Goth. fûls, ‘decayed’; la- is derivative; fû- as the Teut. root is deduced from OIc. fúenn, ‘putrefied,’ which as a partic. points to an obsolete verb (Goth. *fauan, formed like bauan), of which OIc. feyja, ‘to allow to putrefy,’ is the factitive (Goth. *faujan). From fū̆ several Teut. dialects have formed nouns with the meaning ‘cunnus’ (OIc. fuþ); see Hundsfott. The root fū̆, from Aryan pū̆, is equally represented in the allied languages; Gr. πύον, ‘matter,’ and the equiv. Lat. pûs, n.; Sans. and Zend root pû (pûy), ‘to stink, putrefy,’ Lith. pûvù, půti, ‘to putrefy’ (akin to Lith. púlei, ‘matter,’ with a derivative l as in faul); also Gr. πύθω, ‘to cause to rot,’ Lat. pûteo, ‘to stink,’ pŭter, ‘putrid, rotten.’ The primary meaning of the root pŭ is ‘to emit a smell of putrefaction.’ —

faulenzen, vb. ‘to be lazy,’ from late MidHG. vûletzen, ‘to be rotten,’ an intensive derivative of faul; comp. blißen, seufzen.