An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Feld

by Friedrich Kluge

Feld, neuter, ‘field, space, square (chessboard), panel,’ from Middle High German vëlt (genitive -des), Old High German fëld, neuter, ‘field, soil, surface, plain’; a word common to West Teutonic pointing to Gothic *filþ, neuter; Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon fëld (lþ in both dialects are regularly changed into ld), English field, Dutch veld. It is still questionable whether Old Icelandic fjall, ‘mountain,’ is identical with it, since the former is more probably connected with Modern High German Fels. On the other hand, the following are certainly allied: — Old Icelandic fold, feminine, ‘pasture,’ Anglo-Saxon folde, feminine, Old Saxon folda, ‘earth, country, ground’ (pointing to Goth *fuldô). Finnish pelto is derived from Teutonic felþos, which, with Old Icelandic folda, is based upon the Aryan root plth (Sanscrit pṛth), ‘to be broad, flat’; compare Sanscrit pṛthivî, ‘earth,’ as well Fladen.