Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/113

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that the Scand. specialised meaning of the word was the oldest, and that the meaning common to West Teut. was established only by generalisation; comp. OIc. flikke, AS. flicce, E. flitch (dial. flick), as well as AS. (Kent.) flœc for flœ̂sc, ‘meat.’ Russ. poltĭ, Lith. páltis, ‘flitch,’ cannot, on account of their vowel-sounds, be cognates. The k of the OTeut. word is probably a suffix; comp. Du. vleezig, ‘plump’?. — eingefleischt, ‘incarnate,’ simply ModHG. formed like the Lat. incarnatus, ‘embodied.’

Fleiß, m., ‘industry, application, diligence,’ from MidHG. vlîȥ, OHG. flîȥ, m. ‘diligence, zeal, care,’ OHG. also ‘contest,’ from OHG. flîȥȥan, MidHG. vlîȥen, ‘to be zealous, apply oneself, ModHG. befleißen, partic. be-, geflissen. Comp. Du. vlijt, ‘diligence,’ AS. flitan, ‘to emulate, quarrel, contend,’ E. to flite. On the evolution of meaning see Krieg. ‘To emulate’ seems to have been the lit. meaning of the merely West Teut. root flī̆t (Goth. fl- or þl-? — see fliehen). No further references have been discovered.

flennen, vb., ‘to weep ruefully, grin,’ from MidHG. *vlennen; akin to OHG. flannên, ‘to make a wry face,’ from pre-Teut. *flaznan?. Root flas, from pre-Teut. plos, in Lat. plôrare, ‘to weep’?.

fletschen, vb., ‘to beat flat, grin,’ from MidHG. vletsen, ‘to show one's teeth’; remoter history obscure.

flicken, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. vlicken, ‘to put on a patch, mend’; akin to Fleck.

Flieder, m., ‘elder,’ simply ModHG. from. LG.; comp. Du. vlier, ‘elder.’ Earlier forms are not recorded; the word did not originate in either Scand., E., or HG.

Fliege, f., ‘fly, fluke (of an anchor),’ from the equiv. MidHG. fliege, OHG. flioga, f.; comp. Du. vlieg, AS. fleóge, equiv. to E. fly, which is based upon AS. flŷge, OHG. fliuga, MidHG. fliuge, ‘fly’; hence a mutated form (Goth. *fliugjô), besides an unmutated Goth. *fliugô; in OIc. with a different gradation fluga, f., ‘fly, moth’; akin to fliegen (Goth. *fliugan). For an older term for ‘fly’ see under Mücke.

fliegen, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. vliegen, OHG. fliogan, ‘to fly’; comp. Du. vliegen, AS. fleógan (3rd sing. flŷhþ), E. to fly, OIc. fljúga; the common Teut. term for ‘to fly’; Goth. *fliugan may be inferred from the factitive flaugjan, ‘to keep on flying.’ Fliegen is in no wise connected

with fliehen, as is proved by the initial sound of the root in Goth. þliuhan, ‘to flee,’ compared with usflaugjan; see Fliege, Vogel. Teut. root fliug, from pre-Teut. pleugh, plugh; akin to Lat. plûma for plûhma?. For an older root extending beyond Teut. see under Feder.

fliehen, vb., ‘to flee,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vliehen, OHG. fliohan; corresponds to OSax. fliohan, AS. fleón (from fleóhan), E. to flee, OIc. flýja; the f before l is a common substitution for an older initial þ, as in flehen (Goth. þlaihan), flach (from Goth. þlaqus); comp. Goth. þliuhan, ‘to flee.’ This older form was retained only in Goth.; Scand. has f (flýja), like the West Teut. verbs. Hence the Teut. root is þluh, and by a grammatical change þlug, pre-Teut. root tluk, tleuk. Fliegen is primit. allied, since it is based upon the root plugh. In the earliest OIc. and in West Teut. the forms of both the verbs must undoubtedly have been confused; thus OIc. flugu and AS. flugon in the earliest period may mean ‘they fled’ and ‘they flew.’ See Flucht.

Fließ, Fließ, n., ‘fleece,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vlies, n.; comp. Du. vlies, AS. fleós, n., E. fleece; also a mutated form AS. flýs, flýss, MidHG. vlius, earlier ModHG. fleuss, flüss. A second parallel form is represented by ModHG. Flaus. In East Teut. the cognates are wanting; whether Goth. *fl- or *þliusis, n. (comp. fliehen), is to be assumed we cannot say, since satisfactory references to non-Teut. forms have not yet been produced. To explain Vließ from Lat. vellus is futile, since the latter is more probably primit. allied to Wolle, and to regard Vließ as borrowed from vellus is impossible; flechten, Flachs, &c., are also totally unconnected with the word.

fließen, vb., ‘to flow, stream,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vlieȥen, OHG. flioȥȥan, str. vb.; corresponds to OSax. fliotan, Du. vlieten, AS. fleótan, E. to fleet, OIc. fljóta, Goth. *fliutan, ‘to flow.’ The Teut. root fliut, flut, from pre-Teut. pleud-plud, corresponds to Lett. pludêt, ‘to float,’ plûdi, inundation,’ Lith. plústi, ‘to take to swimming,’ plûdìs, ‘floating wood.’ Several Teut. terms for ‘ships’ point to the latter sense, which, of course, is earlier than the ModHG. ‘flowing,’ though in OHG. MidHG. and ModHG., fließen signifies ‘to be driven by flowing water, to swim.’ See Floß, Flotte (Flut, Goth. flôdus, is not a cognate). Instead of the root plud, other