schniefen

First attested in the 17th century as schnieben, a Central German variant of schnauben. The form with f is analogous to schnaufen, which compare. In spite of the late attestation, the form may be very old and continue the eu-variant of Proto-Germanic *sneufaną ~ *snūfaną (compare for this variation kriechen ~ krauchen). An alternative theory considers it a backformation from the strong past tense schnob, geschnoben by analogy with verbs of the class fliegen, flog, geflogen etc.