Etymology for Fake

Fake: to defraud.
Despite the evidence of several dictionaries, the word has nothing to do with the Indian fakir. The Indian word means 'poor'.

Nor does the word come from the Latin facimentum, facere 'to make'. In fact, all the evidence goes to show that it has no pedigree at all, but is a corruption of old Dutch or old German thieves’ argot, and was originally feague.

To feague a horse was to make it look younger and stronger than it actually was, but such devices as blowing up the skin and painting it here and there.

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