Editing Fathom (section)

==Etymology==
The term (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|f|ae|D|@|m}}) derives (via [[Middle English language|Middle English]] ''fathme'') from the [[Old English language|Old English]] ''fæðm'', which is [[cognate (linguistics)|cognate]] with the Danish word ''favn'' (via the Vikings) and means "embracing arms" or "pair of outstretched arms". It is maybe also cognate with the [[Old High German]] word "fadum", which has the same meaning and also means "yarn (originally stretching between the outstretched fingertips)".<ref name=oed>''Oxford English Dictionary'', second edition, 1989;</ref><ref>{{cite book
 |last        = Bosworth
 |first       = Joseph
 |author-link  = Joseph Bosworth
 |editor      = Thomas Toller
 |title       = An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary
 |publisher   = Clarendon Press
 |date        = 1898
 |location    = Oxford, England
 |url         = http://beowulf.engl.uky.edu/cgi-bin/Bosworth-Toller/ebind2html3.cgi/bosworth?seq=285
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070314093510/http://beowulf.engl.uky.edu/cgi-bin/Bosworth-Toller/ebind2html3.cgi/bosworth?seq=285
 |archive-date = 2007-03-14
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fathom|title=Definition of FATHOM|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=21 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/vadem|title = Zoekresultaten}}</ref><ref>[https://www.dwds.de/wb/Faden Definition and etymology of ''Faden''] in the dictionary dwds.de (in German)</ref>