Origin: 1760–70; cf. (from 16th cent.) fisting hound, fisting cur, as contemptuous epithets for any kind of dog (prp. of fist to break wind, late ME; cf. OE fisting breaking wind, MLG vīst, G Fist fart); (def. 2)perh. back formation from feisty
feist (fīst) n.
Chiefly Southern U.S. A small mongrel dog.
[Variant of obsolete fist, short for fisting dog, from Middle English fisting, a blowing, breaking wind, from Old English fīsting; see pezd- in Indo-European roots.] Feist, also fice, is one of several regional terms for a small mixed-breed dog. Used throughout the Midland and Southern states, feist connotes a snappy, nervous, belligerent little dog—hence the derived adjective feisty, meaning "touchy, quarrelsome, or spirited," applicable to animals and to people. Although feist remains a regional word, feisty has now entered standard usage throughout the United States.