Feudel

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Low German Feudel, Feul, Feil, either from or cognate with Dutch feil (“floorcloth”, attested 1616). Further origin uncertain. Ripuarian Fuddel (“old rag”), if related, would suggest that the d is original, whereas all of the following theories require that it is due to hypercorrection:

• From Old French faille (“headscarf, veil”), but this is itself of unknown origin and the sense is only a vague match.
• From Proto-West Germanic *fāgil(u), *fegil(u), a hypothetical tool noun of *fāgōn, *fegōn (“to clean, brush”), whence Dutch vagen, German fegen.
• From corruption of Proto-West Germanic *þwahilu, tool noun of *þwahan (“to wash”). Compare Dutch dweil, Middle Low German dweile (“cleaning cloth, floorcloth”). This would be the easiest explanation as Dutch dweil and feil are entirely synonymous. A development þw → f is also phonetically plausible, though there seem to be no analogous examples.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔʏ̯dəl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Feudel m (strong, genitive Feudels, plural Feudel)

1. (Northern Germany) a cloth for cleaning, especially a floorcloth

   Synonyms: Aufnehmer, Putzlappen, Scheuerlappen, Wischlappen

Declension

Declension of Feudel [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Feudel	die	Feudel
genitive	eines	des	Feudels	der	Feudel
dative	einem	dem	Feudel	den	Feudeln
accusative	einen	den	Feudel	die	Feudel

Derived terms

• feudeln

Further reading

• “Feudel” in Duden online