Etymology
1. c.1450, "handle clumsily," possibly from O.N.
falma "to fumble, grope." Similar words in Scand. and North Sea Gmc. suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (cf.
bumble, stumble, and obsolete Eng.
famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning).
2. From late Middle English, from Low German fummeln, fommeln, fammeln (German fummeln), or Dutch fommelen.
3. Or, perhaps from a Scandinavian/North Germanic source; compare related Old Norse fálma, Icelandic fálma, Danish fumle, especially Swedish fumla, famla, with variants: fumbla (“fumble”), fambla (“famble”), related to Swedish fim, fem (Danish fim, Norwegian fim, feima), with a root meaning of “cover, coating of foam or figuratively ditto”, cognate to German Feim (“surf”) and English foam. Possibly has (a more or less unconscious) connection to fathom (via Old Norse faðmr, Swedish famn) in the sense of “embrace”.
4. The ultimate origin for either could perhaps be imitative of fumbling. Or, from Proto-Indo-European *pal- (“to shake, swing”), see also Latin palpo (“to pat, touch softly”), and possibly Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan (“to feel”). See: Low Saxon 'fummeln', German, old spelling '
fummeln', Dutch '
fommelen', Icelandic '
fálma', Danish '
fumle', Swedish '
fumla', English '
foam', Latin '
palpo'.
Verbs referencing "fumble"
English
fun, Dutch
friemelen, German, old spelling
fummeln.