LL-L: "Historical phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 02.MAY.2000 (15) [E]
Lowlands-L
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L O W L A N D S - L * 02.MAY.2000 (15) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Historical phonology
Andrew:
The English cognate of the "buy" words is "cheap" not "shop".
"Shop" is cognate with G. "Schuppen" and E. dialect "shippon", "shippen", a
barn or cowshed, and probably ultimately "sheaf", because bundles of straw
were used as roofing.
John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk
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From: Jim Gretch [jgretch at ugf.edu]
Subject: LL-L: "Historical phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 02.MAY.2000 (03) [E]
Andrew Saffrey wrote:
>kupiti [Czech] kauffen [Ger], oankeapje [Fri], kopen [Du], købe [Dan], köpa
>[Swe], kjøpe [Nor] goes to Shop in English (?)
<snip>
>PS Strictly kopen is to buy, but nevertheless there is some sort of
>similarlity
This is a common phenomenon in early (southern) English, where Germanic
[k] was often palatized to [tS] ("ch") near front vowels.
Examples: Kinn -> chin
Käse -> cheese
kaufen -> cheap (and the name "Chapman")
Another interesting example would be the dialect usage in
Shakespeare's King Lear, where Edgar uses "'Chill be plain
with you" for "I will be plain with you." (I.e. "'chill" short for "Ich
will,"
where "Ich" is pronounced [ItS], presumably palatized from an
earlier [Ik].)
I once read somewhere that such usages as "cham" for "I am" and
"chuld" for "I would" were still found in Somerset (Southern England)
as recently as the early 1900's. Perhaps they might still be heard
today in rural settings?
It's also interesting that a similar phenomenon has occured in
Mennonite Plautdietsch in the last several centuries, though it's
unclear what has caused that process.
Jim Gretch
University of Great Falls
Great Falls, Montana
----------
From: Jim Gretch [jgretch at ugf.edu]
Subject: LL-L: "Historical phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 02.MAY.2000 (03) [E]
Andrew Saffrey wrote:
>kupiti [Czech] kauffen [Ger], oankeapje [Fri], kopen [Du], købe [Dan], köpa
>[Swe], kjøpe [Nor] goes to Shop in English (?)
<snip>
>PS Strictly kopen is to buy, but nevertheless there is some sort of
>similarlity
This is a common phenomenon in early (southern) English, where Germanic
[k] was often palatized to [tS] ("ch") near front vowels.
Examples: Kinn -> chin
Käse -> cheese
kaufen -> cheap (and the name "Chapman")
Another interesting example would be the dialect usage in
Shakespeare's King Lear, where Edgar uses "'Chill be plain
with you" for "I will be plain with you." (I.e. "'chill" short for "Ich
will,"
where "Ich" is pronounced [ItS], presumably palatized from an
earlier [Ik].)
I once read somewhere that such usages as "cham" for "I am" and
"chuld" for "I would" were still found in Somerset (Southern England)
as recently as the early 1900's. Perhaps they might still be heard
today in rural settings?
It's also interesting that a similar phenomenon has occured in
Mennonite Plautdietsch in the last several centuries, though it's
unclear what has caused that process.
Jim Gretch
University of Great Falls
Great Falls, Montana
----------
From: Stephen Israel [sisrael at imap.pitt.edu]
Subject: "Historical phonology"
Andrew Saffrey asked about the correspondence of k and sh in various
Germanic languages.
The "buy" word is a misleading example for that--- it's from Latin "caupo"
("innkeeper" originally, I believe, but I don't have my books at hand), and
from this very early borrowing then comes German _kaufen_, Low German/Dutch
_kopen_, Swedish _köpa_ (pronounced shwo"pa), and English _cheap_ and
_chapman_. I don't know the origin of _shop_, but it is unlikely to have
any relationship to the -caup- words.
The Lowland languages did, tho, all palatalize k (and sometimes g) next to
the "bright" vowels (i, e, ae) circa 300 AD: *kaasi > Engl. cheese, Fris.
tsjese, Old Low German kiesi (the first -i- marks the palatalization);
*kirkia > Engl. church, Fris. tsjurke, but Scots kirk.
The Scandinavian languages did much the same thing but independently, 900+
years later. This kind of palatalizing is very common in languages of the
world. Danish and Low German gave up this palatalization under High
German influence, but there are still traces of it, e.g. Platt Zever, High
German Kaefer "beetle", (English chafer, if I recall correctly). Scots
(as opposed to Scots Gaelic) seems to have given up palatalization under
Norwegian Viking influence (it would be centuries more before Scandinavians
began palatalizing).
> In my experience during learning Dutch I've noticed on a number of
> occasions that there seems to be a k to sh "transition" perhaps via Norse
> from Dutch kopen into shop (vb) (strictly to buy); and kort into short. I
> know that when the Norsemen and the Danes controlled much of Northern and
> Eastern England, place names with ch and sh became k and sk respectively.
> Could there be some similar explanation?
Stefan Israe!
sisrael at imap.pitt.edu
----------
From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Historical phonology
Jim wrote above:
> This is a common phenomenon in early (southern) English, where Germanic
> [k] was often palatized to [tS] ("ch") near front vowels.
Of course, the same general phenomenon can also be observed in Frisian (though
there are shifts like k > ts). I wonder if indeed the Early Southern English
shift is due to a Frisian stratum.
As you may be aware, one might propose that instead of assuming an
"Anglo-Frisian" branch one consider the possibility that the Germanic-speaking
invaders of the British Isles (speaking Old Saxon and the like) lived in the
Old-Frisian-speaking coastal lands for a while and eventually took with them
speakers of Frisian who, although they have received little or no credit,
participated in the establishment of Germanic rule and left their mark on the
early development of English. (Of course, one should not rule out independent
Frisian migration either.) At any rate, this would assume the genesis of Old
English to be a mixture of Saxon and Frisian with admixtures from other
varieties.
> It's also interesting that a similar phenomenon has occured in
> Mennonite Plautdietsch in the last several centuries, though it's
> unclear what has caused that process.
These dialects are based on the Low Saxon/Low German dialects of "Western
Prussia," namely today's Northern Poland, once a multi-ethnic area with mostly
Germanic and Slavic speakers. Germans perceive the German and Low Saxon
varieties of "the East" to have decidedly "eastern" (= "Slavic") sounds,
besides abounding with Slavic loanwords. Among the "typical" characteristics
is the unrounding of vowels (e.g., /ü/ > /i/, /ö/ > /e/). Personally, I
consider it possible that this palatalization phenomenon in Plautdietsch is
due to the influence of Western Slavic varieties, perhaps beginning with
palatalization of /k/ before front vowels (a common Slavic feature) and then
becoming generalized: k > kj. Some dialects then took the extra step kj > tj,
which is something that would surprise no phonologist. Thus, e.g., _Kark_
(pronounced [kha:k] in western dialects) 'church' became _Kjoakj_ or _Tjoatj_
in Mennonite Low Saxon (Plautdietsch).
It is not so easy to find good sources for "West Prussian" dialects of Low
Saxon other than Plautdietsch. As you may know, the dialects are moribund or
extinct, due to Germans having been expelled from that area at the end of WW
II and there being few native speakers left in Germany and in immigration
countries. I wonder if Reuben Epp or someone else could confirm that
palatalization of some sort already existed in those non-Mennonite dialects.
If not, it is also possibly that Mennonite speech acquired later, namely in
East-Slavic-speaking lands (Russia, Ukraine, etc.).
Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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