An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Fuß

by Friedrich Kluge

Fuß, masculine, ‘foot, base, pedestal, footing,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vuoȥ, Old High German fuoȥ, masculine, ‘foot’; a common Teutonic and more remotely a common Aryan term for ‘foot’; compare Gothic fôtus, Old Icelandic fótr, Anglo-Saxon fôt, English foot, Dutch voet, Old Saxon fôt. The Teutonic fôt- (weak substantive), from Aryan pôd-, which interchanged with Aryan pŏd- and pĕd in declension. Compare Greek ποδ- in πόδα, nominative singular πούς (Æolic πώς); Latin pĕd-em, nominative singular pes; πέδιλον, ‘sandal,’ πεζός (for πεδjός), ‘on foot’; o gradation in Latin tripudium; Old Indian nominative singular pâd (locat. padí), ‘foot,’ padá, neuter, ‘tread, footstep.’ The e gradation is preserved in Teutonic by Old Icelandic fet, neuter, ‘step,’ but as a measure ‘foot’ (Lithuanian pėdà, ‘mark of the foot’); akin to Old Icelandic feta, ‘to find the way,’ Old High German fëȥȥan, ‘to go.’ Respecting Old Icelandic fjǫturr see Fessel; Old Icelandic fit, feminine, ‘the skin of birds between the claws.’ Middle English fetlak, English fetlock; thus too Middle High German viȥȥeloch, ‘hough,’ earlier Modern High German Fitzloch; they are derivatives (not compounds) of *fet-, ‘foot.’ —