English
fake
Fake is of uncertain origin (1775 criminals’ slang), probably from feague ‘to spruce up’, from Low German fegen, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn ‘to polish’.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fegōn‘to clean up, polish’reconstructed
- Old Saxonc. 800–1200fegōn
- Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600vēgen
- German Low Germanmodernfegen
- English1500–presentfeague‘to spruce up, embellish’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1922fake
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fegōn‘to clean up, polish’reconstructed
- Old Saxonc. 800–1200fegōn
- Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600vēgen
- German Low Germanmodernfegen
- English1500–presentfeague‘to spruce up, embellish’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1922fake
Earliest quotation: 1922, Arthur Conan Doyle: “Among other interesting and weighty opinions, which were in…”
The story
The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. It is probably from feak, feague (‘to give a better appearance through artificial means, spruce up, embellish’), itself from German Low German fegen, from Middle Low German vēgen, from Old Saxon fegōn, from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn (‘to clean up, polish’). Perhaps related also to Old Norse fjúka (‘to fade, vanquish, disappear’), Old Norse feikn (‘strange, scary, unnatural’).
Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn
Another origin of fake
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500faken‘to coil a rope’
- Englishtodayfake
Today it means
adj Not real; false, fraudulent.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *fegōn / fake