Note 2 — Second Part.

The etymology of fellare is still obscure. Vossius, Etymolog., derives it from the Æolic φηλᾶν for θηλᾶν and θηλάζειν, to suck the breasts. Pliny, Hist. Nat. bk. XI. 65., says of the tongue of cats: imbricatae asperitatis ac limae similis, attenuansque lambendo cutem hominis (of a ridged roughness of surface, like a file, capable of wearing through the human skin by licking). The meanings which Suidas gives under φελλά, etc. would seem to point to an old stem φέλλω,—to roughen, to file.