Etymology Dictionary

FATHER,  a male parent.  (E.)   M.E. fader, Chaucer, C. T. 8098.   [The spelling fader is almost universal in M.E.; father occurs in the Bible of 1551.]—A.S. fæder, Matt. vi. 9. + Du. vader. + Dan. and Swed. fader. + Icel. faðir. + Goth. fadar. + G. vater. + Lat. pater. + Gk. πατήρ. + Pers. pidar. + Skt. pitri.—✔PA, to protect, nourish; with suffix -tar of the agent; Schleicher, Comp. § 225.   ¶ The change from M.E. fader, moder, to modern father, mother, is remarkable, and perhaps due to the influence of the th in brother (A.S. bróðor) or to Icel. faðir.   Der. father, verb; father-hood, father-less, father-ly; also father-land, imitated from the Dutch (Trench, Eng. Past and Present). [†]

ADDENDA

FATHERLAND,  In Trench, Eng. Past and Present, 4th ed. p. 74, fatherland is said to be from G. vaterland.   Surely this is a mistake.   In his Curiosities of Literature, in the chapter on the History of New Words, I. D'Israeli distinctly tells us that he himself introduced the word into English, and that it was suggested to him by the Du. vaderland, at a time when he resided in Holland.   He adds —'I have lived to see it adopted by Lord Byron and by Mr. Southey, and the word is now common.'   It is therefore an English word formed in imitation of a Dutch one.