An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Finger
Finger, masculine, ‘finger,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vinger, Old High German fingar, masculine; a common Teutonic term; compare Gothic figgrs, Old Icelandic fingr, Anglo-Saxon and English 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-Teutonic pink, ‘to prick, paint,’ Latin fingo (see Feile); it is most probably primitively allied to fünf (Aryan penqe). The terms Hand, Finger, Zehe are specifically Teutonic, and cannot be etymologically explained with certainty. Besides there existed even in Old Teutonic 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.