An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Feder

by Friedrich Kluge

Feder, feminine, ‘feather, pen, plume, spring, flaw (in jewels),’ from the equivalent Middle High German vëder, vëdere, Old High German fëdara, feminine; the term common to Teutonic for ‘feather’; compare Old Saxon fëthara, Anglo-Saxon fëþer, feminine, ‘feather, wing,’ English feather, Old Icelandic fjǫþr, feminine, Gothic *fiþra, feminine, akin to the collective noun Gefieder (see Fittich). Gothic *fiþra, from pre-Teutonic pétrâ, feminine, has in the allied Aryan languages some correspondences which prove the existence of an Aryan root pet, ‘to fly’; compare the Sanscrit root pat, ‘to fly,’ pátatra, neuter, ‘wing,’ patará, adjective, ‘flying,’ çatápatra, ‘having a hundred wings or feathers,’ Greek πέτομαι, ‘to fly,’ πτερόν (for *πετερόν), ‘wing,’ πτίλον (for *πετίλον), ‘feather’; it is less certain whether Latin penna, ‘feather’ (for *petsna?), is allied. See Fittich. —