English
frisk
Frisk comes from Middle French frisque ‘lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay’.
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600frisque‘lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frisk‘lively, frisky’
- Englishearliest quotation 1597same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600frisque‘lively, jolly, blithe, fine, spruce, gay’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frisk‘lively, frisky’
- Englishearliest quotation 1597same form
Earliest quotation: 1597, Joseph Hall, (please specify the page): “Her hands must hide her mouth if she but…”
The story
Alternative etymology derives frisk from an alteration (due to Old French fresche (‘fresh’)) of Old French fricque, frique (‘smart, strong, playful, bright’), from Gothic *𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌺𐍃 (*friks, “greedy, hungry”), from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (‘greedy, active’), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (‘greedy, fierce’).
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *friskaz ‘fresh’
Today it means
adj Lively; brisk.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle French frisque / frisk