Etymology Dictionary

PADDLE (1),  to finger; to dabble in water.  (E.)   1. It means 'to finger, handle;' Hamlet, iii. 4. 185; Oth. ii. I. 259.   It stands for pattle, of which it is a weakened form, and is the frequentative of pat.   Thus the sense is 'to pat often,' to keep handling; see Pat, verb.   So also prov. G. padden, paddeln, to walk with short steps, i.e. to patter about, go with pattering steps; see Patter.   2. The sense 'to dabble in water' is in Palsgrave, who has:  'I paddyl in the myre;' and is perhaps due to O. F. patouiller, 'to slabber, to paddle or dable in with the feet, to stirre up and down and trouble;' Cot.   This appears to be a derivative from F. patte, the foot; and patte appears to be a word of onomatopoetic origin, connected with G. patschen, to tap, pat, splash, dabble, walk awkwardly, which is also allied to E. pat.   3. Or again, it is shewn (s. v. Pat) that pat may stand for plat, so that paddle may be for pladdle, a form which may be compared with Low G. pladdern, to paddle, in the Bremen Wörterbuch.   Either way, the ultimate origin is much the same.   Der. paddle, sb., in the sense of broad-bladed oar, but there is probably some confusion with the word below; paddl-er, Beaum. and Fletcher, Wit at Several Weapons, i. I. 20; paddle-wheel.   Doublet, patter.

PADDLE (2),  a little spade, esp. one to clean a plough with.  (E.)   In Deut. xxiii. 13 (A. V.)   It has lost an initial s, and stands for spaddle, the dimin. of spade.   'Others destroy moles with a spaddle,' Mortimer's Husbandry (R.); and see spud and spittle-staff in Halliwell.   Cf. also Irish and Gael. spadal, a plough-staff, paddle; words prob. borrowed from the O. English.   ¶ In the sense of 'broad-bladed oar,' see Paddle (1).