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Fre

( 98 )

Fri

mals; derived from an earlier *fraëȥȥan, by syncope of the unaccented a, comp. Goth. fraïtan, ‘to consume’ (E. to fret, ‘to cut away’), with the similarly shortened pret. sing. frêt, plur. frêtun, for *fraét, *fraêtun. The Goth. verbal prefix occurs in other cases in OHG. as fir, far, MidHG. and ModHG. ver, and from ëȥȥen combined with this ver a new verb, verëȥȥen, is formed in MidHG. with the same meaning as frëȥȥen, which is etymologically equiv. to it. For the verbal prefix see Frevel, ver-.

Frettchen, n., ‘little ferret,’ dimin. of an earlier ModHG. Frett, m., ‘ferret,’ occurs in ModHG. from Romance; comp. Ital. furetto, Fr. furet (E. ferret), MidLat. furetum, furetus. ‘ferret,’ which is based upon early MidLat. furo, ‘polecat,’ equiv. to Lat. fur, ‘thief.’

Freude, f., ‘joy, pleasure, delight,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vröude, vreude, OHG. fręwida, f.; akin to freuen, MidHG. vröuwen, OHG. frouwen; see froh. For the suffix see Gemeinde, Begierde, Zierde, Beschwerde.

Freund, m., from the equiv. MidHG. vriunt(d), OHG. friunt, m., ‘friend, relative’; comp. OSax. friunt, ‘friend, relative,’ Du. vriend, AS. freónd, E. friend, Goth. frijônds. Goth. frijônds, and hence also the other words, are partics. from an OTeut. and Goth. vb. frijôn, ‘to love,’ AS. freógan, ‘to love’ (see frei); therefore the word, signifying lit. ‘lover,’ is used in many dialects (even yet in LG., Hess., Franc., Alsat., Suab., and Bav.) for ‘relative.’ As to the formation, see Heiland, Feind.

Frevel, m., ‘wanton offence, outrage, sacrilege,’ from MidHG. vręvel, f., m., ‘boldness, presumption, arrogance, insolence, violence,’ OHG. fravilî, f., ‘boldness, daring, insolence’; abstr. subst. from the OHG. adj. fravili, fręvili, MidHG. vręvele, ‘bold, proud, daring, insolent,’ ModHG. frevel, adj.; comp. AS. frœfele, ‘daring,’ Du. wrevel, ‘outrage.’ Connected with the HG. adj. are two or three difficult forms which furnish a hint for discovering the etymology. OHG. fraballîcho, adv. with b, and frabarî, f., ‘audacia,’ with b and r. Parallel to MidHG. vręvel there exists a form vor-ęvel, ver-ęvel, corresponding to MidHG. ver-ëȥȥen, compared with vr-ëȥȥen. We have probably to assume a Goth. *fraabls, or rather *fra afls (comp. fressen), and with this OIc. afl, n., ‘power, strength,’ and OHG. avalôn, ‘to torment oneself, work,’ are closely connected. In OHG. fra

was preserved as a fully accented prefix in adjs., as in frá-bald, ‘daring,’ from bald, ‘bold.’ See Fracht (a compound containing Goth. fra). —

freventlich, adv., ‘sacrilegiously,’ first occurs in ModHG., formed like eigentlich, weſentlich, &c., from the MidHG. adj. vrevele, but with a change of the suffix l into n.

Friede, m., ‘peace, tranquillity, quiet,’ from MidHG. vride, m., ‘peace, quiet, protection,’ OHG. fridu, m., ‘peace’; corresponding to OSax. frithu, m., AS. freoþo, friþu, f., OIc. friþr, m., ‘peace’; the common Teut. word for ‘peace.’ Found in Goth. only in Friþareiks, equiv. to Friedrich (lit. ‘prince of peace’); akin to Goth. gafriþôn, ‘to reconcile.’ The Teut. form friþu- contains the suffix Þu like Goth. dau-þu-s, ‘death’; þrítu-s, from an Aryan root pri, Teut. fri, lit. ‘to love, spare’; Friede, orig. ‘state of love, forbearance’ (see frei). It is worth noticing that Teut. first coined a word for ‘peace,’ for which no common term can be found in the Aryan languages, and the same may be said of ‘Krieg.’ See Hader.

Friedhof, m., ‘churchyard’; the orig. sense is not exactly ‘peaceful enclosure,’ but rather ‘an enclosed place’; akin to MidHG. vride, ‘enclosure, a place hedged in’; MidHG. vrîthof, OHG. frîthof, ‘enclosed space around a church,’ must have given rise to Freithof. In their origin Friede and MidHG. vrît-hof are of course allied; yet vrît-hof must be connected chiefly with Goth. frei-djan, ‘to spare,’ OHG. frîten, ‘to cherish, love, protect’; akin also to einfriedigen.

frieren, vb., ‘to freeze, feel cold, be chilled,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vriesen (partic., gevrorn), OHG. friosan (partic. gifroran); the change of s into r has obtained in all parts of the verb, yet s has been preserved in Frieſeln and Froſt. Comp. Du. vriezen, AS. freósan, E. to freeze, OIc. frjósa; Goth. *friusan is wanting, but may be inferred with certainty from frius, n., ‘frost, cold.’ The change of s into r is also shown by AS. freórig, adj., ‘freezing, frosty, stiff,’ OIc. frer, neu. plur., ‘frost, cold.’ The Teut. root is freus, fruz, from the pre-Teut. root preus, prū̆s. It appears to lie at the base of Lat. prûrio for *prusio, ‘to itch,’ if the connecting link in meaning is to be found in the ‘piercing, itching, burning nature of frost.’ OInd. has a root pruš, ‘to inject a substance,’ which is more