Etymology
Most authorities have sought to explain this word as containing a frequentative
-k suffix; but there has been no compelling identification of the root on which it is derived. (1) Norw dial
fjaska ‘to flatter, fawn, bungle, huddle, hoax’ and Sw dial
fjäska,
fjaska ‘to scamper about fussily, to bustle about’ have been cited as comparanda (TGD, following (an unconvinced) Bj). verbs which are usually explained as
k-extensions on the same root as seen in closely analogous Scandinavian words like Sw
fjäsa ‘to spring about fussily; to fawn’, Norw
fjas ‘foolery, buffoonery’, Sw dial
fjas ‘a fool; a useless bustling about’ etc. But the vocalism of the Norw and Sw words (requiring a pre-fracture VAN */e/) is not an ideal fit for ME forms in /i/. (2a) Alternatively, ME
fisken has been explained as a frequentative formed on OE
fȳs(i)an ‘to make ready, cause to hasten, impel, incite; (reflex.) to hasten, make oneself ready; to put to flight, drive away (etc.)’, < PGmc
*funsian- (thus
OED, Morris, GDS, Kullnick 6); cp. OIcel
fýsa ‘to exhort’, OS
āfūsid ‘made ready’ (
OED cites Sw
fjäska as an analogous derivation). (2b) TG derives from the ON cognate of the same v. in its middle voice form, i.e. cp. OIcel
fýsask ‘to wish’; and (Menner 1926: 400), explains the sense development by blending this ON
fýsask with OE
fȳsan. (3) There is also a possibility that the ME word is of recent, imitative origin in (later) ME, where attested spellings seem to imply (ideophonic?) variation between /sk/ and /ʃ/ by-forms (and cp.
flosche).
PGmc Ancestor
(2) *funsa-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
(2a) fýsa ‘to exhort’ (2b) fýsask ‘to wish’
(ONP fýsa (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
(1) Norw dial fjaska, Sw dial fjäska, fjaska; (2) Far fýsa, Icel fýsa, Norw fŷsa, Dan fyse
OE Cognate
(2) fȳs(i)an ‘to make ready, cause to hasten, impel, incite; (reflex.) to hasten, make oneself ready; to put to flight, drive away (etc.)’
Phonological and morphological markers
[ON middle voice -sk]
(may not be applicable)
Summary category
D1