14c.; Old English had furhwudu "pine wood," but the modern word is more likely from Old Norse fyri- "fir" or Old Danish fyr, all from Proto-Germanic *furkhon (cf. Old High German foraha, German Föhre "fir"), from PIE root *perkos, originally "oak" (cf. Sanskrit paraktah "the holy fig tree," Hindi pargai "the evergreen oak," Latin quercus "oak," Lombardic fereha "a kind of oak").