Bicicletta in Italian, bicicleta in Spanish, Fahrrad in German; none of them sound quite like each other, much less like the Dutch word fiets. But while the others have a clear connection to the bicycle - each contains an element that refers to a cycle (Spanish and Italian ciclo) or wheel (German Rad) - the word fiets remains shrouded in mystery. That is, unless we're to believe the recent theory of two professors at Ghent University: that the word ultimately comes from the German dialectal word Vize-Pferd or Vize-Perd ("vice-horse", i.e.

replacement horse), itself a corruption of the French word vélocipède. The German pronunciation of Vize, [fiets], would then have been transmitted across the border as a loanword.

While the 2012 theory made headlines across the country, several scholars have stepped forward to question its validity. A journalist who covered the story for the Dutch newspaper Trouw points out that there's no evidence a word Vize-P(f)erd ever existed in the first place - a fact that the professors mention in their article, but which to them does not necessarily rule out their theory. Moreover, he finds it more likely that the Germans borrowed the word from the Dutch, not the other way around, as Dutch bicycle companies were especially popular in the Dutch-German border area when the word rose to prominence in the 19th century. Other scholars have raised further objections to the new theory, which has not been widely accepted.

A previous theory had also proposed that the word was corrupted from the French vélocipède, but without the assumption of a German dialectal form in between.

A more probable theory traces it to a word in a southern Dutch dialect, vietse "walk or move fast", which itself probably comes from the French word vite "fast". As none of these theories have earned widespread acceptance, however, the provenance of the word remains uncertain.

Sources:Trouw; etymologiebank.nl.