Etymograph

English

fogle

Fogle comes from German Vogel ‘bird’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *fuglaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fuglaz‘bird’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fugl‘bird’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050fogal‘bird’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350vogel‘a bird, a fowl’
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentVogel‘bird’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1853fogle

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fuglaz‘bird’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fugl‘bird’reconstructed
  3. Old High Germanc. 750–1050fogal‘bird’
  4. Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350vogel‘a bird, a fowl’
  5. Germanc. 1650–presentVogel‘bird’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1853fogle

Earliest quotation: 1853, Lord William Lennox, Ernest Atherley, Or Scenes at Home and Abroad: “[…]and we've to pick up the stakes and cords…”

The story

German Vogel (‘bird’) has been suggested, the connection being bird's-eye, a fabric from which such handkerchiefs were made.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Hotten (see References) suggests a connection with the Italian slang foglia (‘pocket, purse’) or French argot fouille (‘pocket’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *plewk- ‘to fly’

fly, flown, flew, flock, flee, floss, flay, 10 more

through Proto-West Germanic *fugl ‘bird’

fowler, fowl, 2 more

Today it means

noun A handkerchief.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *fuglaz / fogle

Shirt and support for this word