Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/108

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Fessel (1.), f., ‘fetter, chain, shackle,’ from MidHG. vęȥȥel, OHG. fęȥȥil, m., ‘band for fastening and holding the sword,’ then also ‘band, fetter’; AS. fętel, ‘sword-belt,’ OIc. fetell, m., ‘band, bandage, sword-belt’; akin to root fat (see Faß, fassen), ‘to hold’?. The ModHG. has retained its general sense by taking the place of another OTeut. word for ‘fetter’; MidHG. vëȥȥer, f., ‘fetter, shackle for the foot,’ OHG. fëȥȥera, OSax. fëter, AS. fëter, E. fetters (plur.), OIc. fjǫturr. These words, which are usually connected with Lat. pedica, Gr. πέδη, ‘fetter,’ Lat. compes, and hence with the cognates of ModHG. Fuß, can scarcely be allied to the terms indicating a Goth. *fatils, ‘sword-belt.’

Fessel (2.), f., ‘pastern.’ See Fuß.

Fest, n., ‘festival, fête, feast,’ from the equiv. MidHG. fëst, n., from Lat. festum, whence Ital. festa, Fr. fête (E. feast); Feier is the earlier loan-word. Gothic has simply a native dulþs, ‘feast.’ See Dult.

fest, adj., ‘firm, solid, strong,’ from MidHG. vęst, vęste, OHG. fęsti, adj., ‘firm, strong, steadfast’; see the corresponding adv. fast, which is not mutated; neither was the adj. originally formed by mutation, since, according to OSax. fast, AS. fœst, E. fast, OIc. fastr, adj., ‘firm,’ we have to assume a Goth. *fastu-, which is probably an old to- partic. like laut, traut, zart, alt, &c., from the root fas-, ‘to fasten’; *fasta-, lit. ‘fastened,’ then ‘firm.’ Goth. still retains only the verb fastan, ‘to keep firm, hold fast.’ See fasten.

Fetisch, m., ‘fetish,’ adopted by ModHG. at beginning of the 17th cent. The earlier parallel form Fetisso is more closely connected with the Port. base feitiço, ‘enchantment,’ but the modern form with Fr. fêtiche.

fett, adj., ‘fat, plump,’ only in ModHG., introduced by Luther from MidG. and LG. instead of the genuine UpG. feist; LG. fett, comp. Du. vet from an earlier fêtt, AS. fœ̂tt, ‘fat,’ which, with OHG. feiȥȥit, are derived from Goth. *faitiþs; see feist. As to the origin of the ModHG. idiom, sein Fett haben, jemandem sein Fett geben, ‘to get one's due, give any one his due,’ opinions are divided; although the reference to einbrocken, jemandem etwas einbrocken (to play one a trick), &c., supports the assumption of a purely Ger. origin, some etymologists regard it as partly translated and partly borrowed from the Fr. donner à quelqu'un son

fait, avoir son fait, others even as an ironical reference to the Fr. faire fête à quelqu'un, ‘to make a person heartily welcome.’

Fetzen, m., from the equiv. MidHG. vêtze, m., ‘rag, tatters’; probably from MidHG. vaȥȥen, ‘to dress,’ OIc. fǫt, ‘clothes.’ From a Teut. (Goth.) fata, ‘clothes,’ Span. hato, and Port. fato, ‘wardrobe,’ are derived. Comp. fassen, Faß. In the dialectal compounds Alltags-, Sonntagsfetzen, Fetzen denotes ‘clothes.’

feucht, adj., ‘moist, damp, humid,’ from the equiv. MidHG. viuhte, OHG. fûhti, fûht, (Goth. *fûhtu- is wanting). The adj. is West Teut.; comp. LG. fucht, AS. fûht, E. obsolete, Du. vochtig, ‘damp.’ An allied root (pū̆k), qū̆k, quak, is assumed for OSlov. kysnąti, ‘to grow sour,’ kvasiti, ‘to acidify,’ which are scarcely connected with this word.

Feuer, n., ‘fire, ardour, passion,’ from the equiv. MidHG. viur, OHG. and OLG. fiur, older fûir, n.; comp. Du. vuur, AS. fŷr (from *fûir), n., E. fire; a word common to West Teut. for ‘fire’; in Goth. fön (gen. funins), OIc. fune, ‘fire,’ but it is doubtful whether they are cognate with HG. Feuer; comp. OIc. (only in poetry) fúrr, m., and fýre, n., ‘fire.’ The r in all the words is a suffix, and fû (from pre-Teut. pû) the root; comp. Gr. πῦρ and Æol. πύΐρ, n. (πυρσός, ‘torch’). In Sans. a verbal root pû, ‘to flame, beam brightly,’ is found, whence pâvaká, ‘fire.’

Fibel, f., ‘primer,’ first occurs in early MidHG. (15th cent.), probably a LG. word orig. formed from Bibel; the earlier variant wibel (wivel?) points to ModGr. pronunciation. Perhaps Fibel represents Bivel (comp. Essig, Bieber).

Fichte, f., ‘pine, fir,’ from MidHG. vichte, f., OHG. fiohta, fiuhta, f., ‘fir.’ No cognate term is found in any of the other Teut. dialects, yet Fichte is proved from the non-Teut. languages to be primitive; comp. Gr. πεύκη, ‘fir,’ Lith. puszìs, ‘fir.’ The HG. form is fuller by a dental affix than the Gr. and Lith. words.

Fieber, n., ‘fever,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vieber, OHG. fiebar, n.; from Lat.-Romance febris, with a change of gender as in AS. fêfor, n., equiv. to E. fever; OHG. and MidHG. ie for e, as in Brief, Ziegel, Spiegel, Priester; so too ModHG. Bieber-, MidHG. biever, from vieber, with an interchange of consonants, as in Essig and Kabeljau.