Haiku & Toponymics

[Guenther Ramm]

Hails, Daweid!
  Thank you very much for a detailed comment on *thiwairno. When writing to Fredrik about its possible “pejorative meaning in actual Gothic” I myself meant no social arrogance. I was just referring to that well-known situation that in a tribal and early feudal society such as the 3rd – 6th century Goths evidently were, terms designating lower social positions were definitely seen as pejorative (and often used to insult) by higher classes, but since it is exactly this social top where all written monuments of that time came from (maybe it can be argued), we have to deal with corresponding semantics of the words.
  As for what the word originally meant, so the examples you cite seemingly lead to a conclusion that this “upward” development of the meaning was typical ONLY for the German (both hoch- & niederdeutsch) area. The whole semantic history of the German word could then be represented like this: “daughter of a slave” (non-written period) > “servant girl” > “girl”, “virgin” in some OHG dialects, whence “Holy Virgin” in church usage, but in other (non-attested?) OHG dialects still a “servant girl” and later on throughout the MHG period > finally “whore” in NHG. The last meaning is of course exclusively German. I was wrong adducing it to illustrate reconstructed Gothic.
  If we accept the etymology from PIE *tek- “to give birth”, it would explain OHG diorna = Greek theotokos and exclude the “servant girl” as a later development. But then it’s not clear where all that “bad” semantics of this stem in other Germanic areas came from. I mean words derived from PG. *thegwaz M., *thegwjo F. which quite obviously referred to slaves (servants). Koebler says it’s PIE *tekw- “to run” (Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, s. v. dio*). Typologically cf. ON. thræll “servant”, “thrall” < *thrahilaz and Gothic thragjan, Greek trechein “to run”. It also explains -w- in PG. *thegwerna-n-.
  So, Gothic *thiwairno is definitely NOT a “whore”, but she’s NOT a “virgin” either :)
   
  Ualarauans


David Kiltz <derdron at gmx.net> wrote:  On 30.03.2006, at 10:00, Fredrik wrote:

> Feminine Gothic *thiwairno
> F. -on "thrall's daughter" can be guessed from OHG diorna etc. (s.
> Koebler) > NHG Dirne "whore". I think both *thiwiliggs and *thiwairna
> could have mostly pejorative meaning in actual Gothic (cf. the German
> semantics).

Note, however, that the negative connotation is absent from the  
oldest Germanic dialects (unless you take 'servant girl' as  
pejorative in itself). The German semantics you adduce aren't old.  
OHG _diorna_ means 'girl, virgin, maid'. The word is even used for  
the Blessed Virgin Mary. The meaning 'servant girl' is only attested  
in MHG. Finally, the meaning 'whore' only develops in the 16th  
century. And even so, it's not exclusive as German dialects (NLG  
_deern_, Bavarian _dirndl_) preserve the meaning 'girl' with no  
pejorative connotation whatsoever.
Icelandic _therna_, Danisch _tärna_ 'maid, girl-servant' are often  
thought to be loans from MLG.
Indeed, some have thought PG *_thegwerna_ to derive from a PIE root  
*_tek'-_ 'to fashion; give birth' (cf. Gr. _teknon_ 'child') as OE  
_thegn_,OIc. _thegn_, MHG _degen_ 'servant; pupil; noble; hero; man.  
While I'll admit that lumping _thegwerna_ into this group isn't a  
stellar etymology (one would have to assume for the -w- to have been  
carried over from *_weduwernôn_) it's a possibility. What's  
important, is that there is nothing in Old Germanic that points into  
the direction of 'whore'.

Best,
David

Note that I consistently use M for 'middle' never for 'modern'.  
Recent languages are marked N = 'new' so as to avoid confusion. 

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