Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/105

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phalia formerly), from MidHG. veime, f., ‘condemnation, punishment, secret tribunal,’ Goth. *faima, f., would, on the analogy of τέσσαρες, Goth. fidvôr, favour the connection with the root τι in Gr. τίνω, ‘to atone for,’ derived from ki, ‘to punish, avenge’; Gr. ποίνη, as a derivative of the same root, may have been formed with a different suffix from that which appears in Fehme. In spite of the late formation of the word, its origin is difficult to discover and uncertain. Its connection with Du. veem, ‘guild, association,’ is also disputed. Others again refer it to OSax. a-fêhian, ‘to condemn’ (see feige). It is quite impossible to connect it with an older LG. form, Fehme, ‘oak-mast,’ which, with Bav. dehme, deehel, ‘oak-mast,’ belongs to a different stem.

Feier, f., ‘holiday, festival, celebration,’ from MidHG. vîre, f., OHG. fîra, fîrra, ‘festival, holiday’; borrowed from MidLat. fêria (formed from Lat. feriae), with the lat ê strengthened, as Kreide, Speise, Seide, Pein; the cause of the rr in OHG. fîrra is the i of fêria.

Feiertag, m., ‘holiday, festival,’ from MidHG. vîr-, vîretac, OHG. firatag. —

feiern, ‘to celebrate,’ from MidHG. vîren, OHG. fîrrôn, fîrôn, ‘to celebrate, keep a festival,’ formed from Lat. feriari. The borrowed word is found in the Teut. languages of Middle Europe (Du. vierdag, OFris. fîra), but is wanting in E. and Scand. The Romance languages preserve Lat. feriae in the sense of ‘fair’; comp. Ital. fiera, Fr. foire (hence E. fair). Comp. Messe and Fest. —

ModHG. Ferien (since the 16th cent.), ‘vacation, holidays,’ has been derived anew from Lat. feriae.

feige, adj., ‘cowardly, dastardly,’ from MidHG. veige, OHG. feigi, adj., ‘doomed to death, accursed, unhappy,’ then also ‘timid, cowardly’ (in the ModHG. sense feige is wanting in the UpG. dialects); comp. OSax. fêgi, ‘doomed to death,’ Hess. fêg, Du. veeg, veege, ‘on the point of death,’ AS. fœ̂ge, Scotch fey, OIc. feigr, ‘doomed to death, on the point of death.’ In the sense of ‘fated to die,’ the adj. is primit. Teut. (Goth. *faigs). It has also been compared with Sans. pakvás, ‘ripe,’ so that the Teut. cognates would represent pêkj, pêki (with an inserted vowel); comp. feil. Far more improbable is the assumption that it is connected with Goth. faihs, OHG. fêh, AS. fâh, ‘variegated,’ as is it were thought that the person doomed to death

by the fates was distinguished by some coloured mark. Some compare it with the cognates discussed under Fehde, some with Lith. paíkas, ‘stupid, silly,’ others, again, with an OSax. féhian, ‘to condemn.’ See Fehme.

Feige, f., ‘fig,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vîge, OHG. fîga, f., ‘fig’; comp. OSax. fîga, Du. vijg; derived, like other South Europ. names of trees and fruits, from Rom. Lat. (ficus, f.), or more strictly from North Ital. and Provenç. figa, whence also Fr. figue. The AS. fîctreów is connected directly with the Lat., the later E. form fig-tree being based upon Fr. figue. Comp. Pfirsich, Pflaume, Birne, varieties of fruit, which were borrowed in the OHG. period, or even earlier, from the Lat. Goth. smakka, ‘fig,’ corresponding to OSlov. smokŭ, was obtained from a different source. See Ohrfeige.

Feigwarze, f., from the equiv. MidHG. (rare) vîcwarzen, n., vîcwęrze, f., ‘venereal ulcer,’ for which is found, mostly in the same sense, MidHG. vîc, m., from Lat. fîcus, whence also the equiv. AS. fîce; comp. Ital. fico, ‘fig, venereal ulcer.’

feil, adj., ‘for sale, venal,’ from MidHG. veile, veil, OHG. feili, with the curious variant fâli, adj., ‘purchaseable’; akin to the equiv. OIc. falr, with an abnormal vowel. Teut. faili- has according to OHG. fâli, OIc. falr, an inserted vowel in the accented syllable (comp. feige); hence it corresponds to Aryan pêli-, and is connected with Gr. πωλέομας, ‘to sell,’ and more remotely with the OInd. root pan for paln-, ‘to purchase, buy, exchange.’ —

feilschen, with sch after l for s, ‘to higgle, bargain,’ from MidHG. veilschen, OHG. *feilisôn, ‘to bargain for something.’

Feile, f., ‘file,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vîle, OHG. fîla, fîhala (not fĭhala), f.; corresponds to AS. feól (dial. variant *fîl), f., E. file, Du. vijl, ‘file.’ The OIc. term is þél, f., ‘file,’ with an abnormal initial sound; Goth *feihala or *þeihala must be assumed. The form with initial f from Aryan p points to the widely diffused root pik, ‘to scratch,’ akin to Lat. pingo, pictor, OSlov. pĭsati, ‘to write.’ Yet OIc. þel, from *þîhl, points to Teut. þinh, equiv. to pre-Teut. tek, tenk, in ModHG. Dachs; for the interchange of f and þ comp. düster (finster), Fackel, Fehme (also OHG. fîn, fîma compared with LG. dîme, ‘heap of corn.’

Feim, m., ‘foam,’ from the equiv. Mid-