Etymograph

English

feud

Feud comes from Northern Middle English fede ‘a severe hate or antipathy’, from Old French faide ‘a feud’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- ‘to be angry, hostile, evil’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peyḱ-‘to be angry, hostile, evil’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*faihaz‘hostile’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faih‘hostile’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*faihiþu‘hatred, enmity’reconstructed
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500faida
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400faide‘a feud’
  7. Northern Middle Englishmodernfede‘a severe hate or antipathy’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602feud

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peyḱ-‘to be angry, hostile, evil’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*faihaz‘hostile’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faih‘hostile’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*faihiþu‘hatred, enmity’reconstructed
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500faida
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400faide‘a feud’
  7. Northern Middle Englishmodernfede‘a severe hate or antipathy’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602feud

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Wherein my sword had not impressure made / Of…”

Formed from foe + -th

Proto-Germanic *faihaz

…

Old English fāh ‘hostile’

Old English ġefāh ‘enemy’

Middle English ifa

Middle English fo

English foe

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- ‘to be angry, hostile, evil’

picture, fish, file, paint, pint, depiction, depict, pigment, pictorial, pimento, piscina, 26 more

through Proto-West Germanic *faih ‘hostile’

foe

through Northern Middle English fede ‘a severe hate or antipathy’

feed

Another origin of feud

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peḱ-‘livestock’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*péḱu‘livestock’reconstructed*u-stem of *peḱ-
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fehu‘livestock, cattle’reconstructed
  4. Frankishc. 250–700*fehu‘livestock, cattle’reconstructed
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500feudum‘a fief, fee’
  6. Englishtodayfeud

Today it means

noun A state of long-standing mutual hostility.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- / feud

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