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Can you trace which was the original/oldest spelling? Felse is purely a variant of Fels, Fell and Felser, location surnames found in both England and Germany (where the spelling Vels may also be seen), since common topographical terms are used in both linguistic areas, but this doesn't explain the development to Felt. I'm guessing the development was Felse> Felch> Feltch >Felt, which may imply a German origin in this case, but the implied pronunciation makes me think it may have originally been Felsch : from the Slavic personal name Velislav (from velij ‘big’), which became Velisch, Felsch; or a variant of North German Fölsch, Völsch, based on the Frisian-Low German personal name Fölske, Völske (from the common name component volc ‘people’, ‘tribe’); unrounding of -ö- to -e- changes Fölsch to Felsch. Scots/Irish Gaelic Failte wouldn't explain the -ch and -se spellings, and the Gaelic for stag is "damh". (and this belongs in he surnames section)

This message was edited 7/26/2020, 10:48 AM