Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 13:59:04 -0700

From: Allen Maberry maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]U.WASHINGTON.EDU

Subject: Re: etymology of FEIST



On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Ron Butters wrote:



Someone writes:



fart is derived from Gk. perdesthai, Skt. pardate OHG is ferzan, doesn't

seem conected to veizen



yes someone did, and someone is sorry about the sloppy terminology.

you are right that fart is cognate with and not derived from either

Gk or Skt. fart/Furz and fat/feist come from different IE roots,

if the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology is to be believed.



fart-- OE *feortan (in feorting, vbl sb) ME uertan corr. to MG verten

OHG ferzan MHG verzen, vurzen ON w/metath. freta--Common Germanic

*fertan, *fortan, *furtan:-- IE base *perd- *pord- *prd- as repr Skt.

pard, prd, Av pereden (3rd pl) Alb perth (1st sing), Gr perdein, aor.

epardon, pf. peporda, porde- sb. Lith., perdziu, Russ. perdet.



fat-- OE faet(t)=OFris fatt, fett, MDu MLG vett (Du vet) OHG feizzit (G

feist; fett is LG) WGermanic *fatidhaz pp. formulated on *faitjan "fatten"

(OHG veizzen ON feita) f. *faitaz adj "fat" OS feit, OHG feiz, ON feitr ..

perhaps rel to IE *poid- *pid- basic meaning "to gush forth" as in Gr

piduein "gush" pidax "spring" ... extension of *poi-, *pi "be swollen,

gush out, variations of which areseen in several words denoting fatness

eg. Skt. piva, Gr piar, pion, pimele, Lat optimus, pinguis.