An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/fürchten

by Friedrich Kluge

fürchten, ‘to fear, dread,’ from Middle High German vürhten (preterite vorhte), Old High German furihten, forahtan (preterite forahta), ‘to be afraid’; compare Old Saxon forahtjan, Anglo-Saxon forhtian; Dutch and Scandinavian are wanting; Gothic faurhtjan, ‘to fear, be afraid,’ with the participle faúrhts, ‘timid,’ used as an adjective. The dental of the verb, which was probably strong originally, is a suffix of the present stem, hence Teutonic farh-tjan; the corresponding abstract Old High German forh-ta is formed like Schande. To the Teutonic root forh (Aryan prk?, qerk?), Latin querquerus, ‘shivering,’ and Greek καρκαίρω, ‘to tremble,’ have been allied.