freten by sowe

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I think this comes from {for-} + {eten}, where {for-} is the common PIE 
destructive prefix. Isn't the German distinction a later development from 
Proto-Germanic? I think in OE, "FRÆTAN" just meant 'eat up' (cf. "fugeles komen and hit 
fraetan" in the Bible). Of course, birds are not people.

In a message dated 3/2/08 2:48:27 PM, hwgray at GMAIL.COM writes:


> Whoa! Now, I'm *really* glad that I didn't get out of the car while
> pigs were loose! But, seriously, folks, couldn't "freten" merely mean
> "eat, of animals," like German "fressen"?
> 
> -Wilson
> 
> On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 11:56 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header 
> -----------------------
> >  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >  Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >  Subject:      Re: freten by sowe
> >  
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 
> > 
> >  At 3/2/2008 10:08 AM, William Salmon wrote:
> 
> >  <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">There's a horrifying line in The
> >  Knight's Tale about a pig eating a
> 
> >  child.
> 
> 
> >  The sowe freten the child right in the cradel...</blockquote>
> 
> >  I assume "freten" (fressen) rather than (?) "eten"
> >  (essen) to make it more horrifying?
> 
> 
> >  Joel
> > 
> >
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> 
> 
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
> 
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> 
> 




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