An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Felge
Felge, feminine, ‘felly (of a wheel),’ from Middle High German vëlge, Old High German fëlga, feminine, ‘rim of a wheel, tyre,’ Old High German also ‘harrow, roller for breaking clods’; compare Dutch radvelge, ‘felloe,’ Anglo-Saxon fëlg, English felly (rim, fellow). Is Old High German felga, ‘roller, harrow,’ to be connected with Anglo-Saxon *fealge (Middle English falge, ‘fallow land’), English fallow, and its e to be regarded therefore as formed by mutation? Middle High German valgen, ‘to plough up, dig,’ makes such a supposition very probable. It is possible that the two classes in the sense of ‘felloe’ and ‘barrow’ are not allied to each other. Between Old High German fëlga and Anglo-Saxon felga, ‘felloe,’ there is no connecting link.