Etymology
1. O.E.
fiðele, related to O.N.
fiðla, M.Du.
vedele, Ger.
Fiedel, all probably from M.L.
vitula "stringed instrument," perhaps related to L.
vitularia "celebrate joyfully," from
Vitula, Roman goddess of joy and victory, who probably, like her name, originated among the Sabines. The verb is from 1377; the fig. sense of "to act idly" is from 1530. The word has been relegated to colloquial usage by its more proper cousin,
violin (q.v.), a process encouraged by phraseology such as
fiddlestick (15c., originally "the bow of a fiddle;" meaning "nonsense" is from 1621) and
fiddle-faddle (1577), which is unrelated, being a reduplication of obsolete
faddle "to trifle."
Fiddler's Green first recorded 1825, from sailors' slang.
Fiddler crab is from 1714.
Fiddle-head "one with a head as hollow as a fiddle" is from 1887.
Fit as a fiddle is from 1616.
2. From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, trousers, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela).
3. The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare Bedlam, staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion). See: Icelandic '
fiðla', Swedish '
fela'.
Verbs referencing "fiddle"
English
feddle.