Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/109

---

Fiedel, f., from the equiv. MidHG. videl, videle, f., OHG. fidula (as early as Otfried), f., ‘fiddle, violin’; comp. Du. vedel, AS. fiþele, E. fiddle, OIc. fiþla. OHG. fidula is based, according to AS. fiþele, ‘fiddle,’ fiþelêre, ‘fiddler,’ fiþelestre, ‘fidicina,’ upon an older West Teut. *fiþula. The latter form with þ might be deduced from Lat. *fitula or fidula (for fidicula?), yet these primary forms are not recorded. There is undeniable connection between the Teut. class and the Romance cognates — Ital. viola, Fr. viole, ‘violin,’ the origin of which, it is true, is much disputed. Still Harfe found its way from Teut. into Romance.

fillen, vb., ‘to flay,’ from the equiv. MidHG. villen, OHG. fillen; allied to Fell.

Filz, m., ‘felt, blanket; miser; reprimand,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vilz, OHG. filz, m.; comp. Du. vilt, AS. and E. felt, Swed. and Dan. filt, ‘felt’ (Goth. *filtis, pre-Teut. *peldos, n.). Lat. pilus, pileus, Gr. πῖλος, are scarcely allied; it is more probably connected with OSlov. plŭstĭ, ‘felt.’ From the Teut. word are derived the similarly sounding Romance words, Ital. feltro, Fr. feutre, MidLat. filtrum, ‘felt.’ Other words also relating to weaving were introduced into Romance from Teut. See Haspe, Rocken.

finden, vb., ‘to find, discover; deem, consider,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vinden, OHG. findan; comp. Goth. finþan, OIc. finna, AS. findan, E. to find, OSax. fîthan, findan, ‘to find.’ Teut. fenþ, as a str. verbal root from pre-Teut. root pent; akin to OHG. fęndo, m., ‘pedestrian,’ AS. fêþa, ‘foot-soldier,’ OHG. funden, ‘to hasten’?. Some etymologists adduce Lat. invenire and OSlov. na iti, ‘to find,’ to show by analogy that from a verb of ‘going’ the meaning ‘find’ can be evolved. With the Teut. root fenþ the equiv. OIr. root ét- (from pent-) is most closely connected.

Finger, m., ‘finger,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vinger, OHG. fingar, m.; a common Teut. term; comp. Goth. figgrs, OIc. fingr, AS. and E. finger. It is uncertain whether the word is derived from fangen, root fanh, and it is questionable whether it comes from the root finh, pre-Teut. pink, ‘to prick, paint,’ Lat. fingo (see Feile); it is most probably primit. allied to fünf (Aryan penqe). The terms Hand, Finger, Zehe are specifically Teut., and cannot be etymologically explained with certainty. Besides there existed even in OTeut. a definite

term for each finger. First of all the thumb obtained its name, which is a rudimentary and hence very old form; for the remaining names see under Daumen.

Fink, m., ‘finch,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vinke, OHG. fincho, m.; corresponds to Du. vink, AS. finc, E. finch, Swed. fink, Dan. finke, ‘finch’; Goth. *finki-, *finkjan-, are wanting. There is a striking similarity of sound in the Rom. words for ‘finch’ — Ital. pincione, Fr. pinson, to which the E. dialectal forms pink, pinch, ‘finch,’ belong. Yet there is no suspicion that the Teut. word was borrowed; the Teut. class is probably primit. allied to the Rom. word.

Finne (1.), f., ‘fin,’ first occurs in ModHG. from LG. finne, Du. vin, ‘fin’; first recorded in the Teut. group in AS. (finn, m., E. fin), hence it cannot have been borrowed from Lat. pinna, ‘fin of the dolphin, feather.’ No Teut. word can be proved to have been borrowed from Lat. before the period of the OTeut. substitution of consonants, i.e., before the beginning of our era (see Hanf). Hence AS. finn must be assumed as primit. cognate with Lat. pinna. Is it, like penna, based upon pesna (OLat.)? If it were based upon *pis-nâ, ‘fin,’ it might perhaps be regarded as cognate with piscis, Goth. fiska- (fis-ka), ‘fish.’

Finne (2.), f., ‘tumour, scrofula,’ from MidHG. vinne, pfinne, ‘pimple, foul rancid smell’; comp. Du. vin, ‘pimple.’ The relation of the initial sounds is not clear; MidHG. pfinne points to Goth. p, Du. vin to f initially; perhaps the double form is due to confusion with Finne (1.); p may be the correct initial sound.

finster, adj., ‘dark, gloomy, morose, sullen,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vinster, OHG. finstar; OSax. *finistar, as an adj., is not found, but it may be inferred from a subst. with the same sound, meaning ‘darkness’; the stem is essentially Ger., but a series of phonetic difficulties (see düster) hamper the discovery of the type. In OHG. there exists besides finster an OHG. dinstar, MidHG. dinster, whose initial d must have been substituted for an earlier (OSax., Goth.) þ; to these OSax. thimm, ‘dark,’ corresponds. The interchange of þ and f, judging from the parallel forms under Feile and Fackel, cannot be denied. In that case the root would be þem (see Dämmerung). But OSax. thiustri, AS. þŷstre ‘gloomy,’ have no connection with it.