Fake
late 18th century (originally slang): origin uncertain; perhaps ultimately related to German fegen ‘sweep, thrash’. Compare with fig2.
wiktionary
The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. [1] It is probably from feak, feague(“to give a better appearance through artificial means”); akin to Dutch veeg(“a slap”), vegen(“to sweep, wipe”); German fegen(“to sweep, to polish”). Compare Old English fācn, fācen(“deceit, fraud”). Perhaps related to Old Norse fjúka(“fade, vanquish, disappear”), feikn(“strange, scary, unnatural”).
From Middle English faken(“to coil a rope”).
etymonline
fake
of unknown origin; attested in London criminal slang as adjective (1775, "counterfeit"), verb (1812, "to rob"), and noun (1851, "a swindle;" of persons 1888, "a swindler"), but probably older. A likely source is feague "to spruce up by artificial means," from German fegen "polish, sweep," also "to clear out, plunder" in colloquial use. "Much of our early thieves' slang is Ger. or Du., and dates from the Thirty Years' War" [Weekley]. Or it may be from Latin facere "to do." Century Dictionary notes that "thieves' slang is shifting and has no history."
The nautical word meaning "one of the windings of a cable or hawser in a coil" probably is unrelated, from Swedish veck "a fold." As a verb, "to feign, simulate" from 1941. To fake it is from 1915, jazz slang; to fake (someone) out is from 1940s, originally in sports. Related: Faked; fakes; faking.
The jazz musician's fake book is attested from 1951. Fake news "journalism that is deliberately misleading" is attested from 1894; popularized in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
