LL-L: "Morphology" LOWLANDS-L, 03.MAY.2000 (06) [E]

Wed May 3 23:48:05 UTC 2000

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From: Edwin Michael Alexander [edsells at idirect.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Old English" LOWLANDS-L, 03.MAY.2000 (03) [E]

At 08:20 AM 05/03/00 -0700, Mike wrote:

>Interesting the Kopen, since in Engligh there is Coop, or Cop.
>
>One is used like "to coop a feel" basically meaning to touch a member of
>the gender you like without their wishes, or atleast for semi-sexual
>gratification.
>
>While Cop, not sure where it came from, but could it be how they were
>bought?

Sorry, Mike, but "cop" as in policeman as well as "cop a feel" are probably
(many years in Lowlands-L has taught me ALWAYS to preface remarks with this
word) related to the now archaic word for spider, namely a "cob", with the
non-archaic word "cobweb", though I am not completely sure of the common
meaning or root.  There is an Old French word "cobler" and Latin "copule"
which have the general meaning of "to join together".  My guess would be
that the idea of the policeman as a "cop" comes from the idea of him
waiting around to trap the thief.  It would seem perhaps, that the word
"cobbler" comes from the OF and L, as the cobbler is primarily joining
different materials together (and as Shakespeare would say. "withal").

Ed Alexander
JAG REALTY INC.
80 Jones Street Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8R 1Y1
Pager: 905-545-0177  Fax: 905-525-6671 Email: edsells at idirect.com
Jag Realty Inc.: http://www.deerhurst.com/jag/
Ontario Ultra Series:  http://ous.kw.net/
Burlington Runners Club: http://www.deerhurst.com/brc/

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From: Pat Reynolds [pat at caerlas.demon.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Old English" LOWLANDS-L, 02.MAY.2000 (02) [E]

In message <390EE768.1A0BC009 at yahoo.com>, Lowlands-L
<sassisch at yahoo.com> writes
>From: Bryan E. Schulz [bryans at northnet.net]
>Has anyone read the latest translation of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney ?
No.

As others have said, the original work was not a text, but a performance
piece: it is not designed to be read, but to be listened to.  For this
reason I recommend Julian Glover's reading of his translation, available
on cassette, which contains passages in Old English.

The manuscript is available in a facsimile edition from the Early
English Text Society: I love the script it is written in.

I can't remember if anyone else has said that while the written text is
in Late West-Saxon, it preserves some Anglian forms, and hints at a
Northumbrian predecessor.  Whether or not this makes it 'lowland', I've
no idea - the Vale of York was rather flooded when I came through it on
Monday!

Best wishes to all
--
Pat Reynolds
pat at caerlas.demon.co.uk
   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Pratchett)

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From: Ian James Parsley [parsley at highbury.fsnet.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Old English" LOWLANDS-L, 03.MAY.2000 (03) [E]

Tom,

There is little doubt that Scots is more conservative that Standard British
or American English, but in fact there are several accents you could try for
Chaucer that would work quite neatly. I would imagine West Country would do
quite well, and in fact there is a lot of evidence to show that the
present-day West Midlands accents are quite close to Chaucer. Of course
Southern Ulster is considered by many the most conservative of the lot - as
with the joke of two women going past a music shop: the first points to a
picture and says 'that's Nat King Cole' and the second says 'Oh? Who is it
then?' The 'nat' there will be familiar to you from Chaucer, of course.

Scots also has had its own influences over time as well, and though I would
suggest it is more conservative than English, it is certainly very, very
different from first-millennium Anglo-Saxon (whereas, for example, an
Icelander from 1000 years ago would have little trouble understanding Modern
Icelandic). Another interesting question is whether Ulster-Scots is more
conservative than the Scottish dialects of Scots - many argue that it is
(and there is plenty of historical evidence to suggest why it should be),
however there are noteworthy elements of Ulster-Scots grammar which show it
to be less conservative (for example the merging of the preterite and past
participle, thus 'A grat, A hae grat' vs. 'A grat, A hae grutten).

Best,
-------------------------------
Ian James Parsley
http://www.gcty.com/parsleyij
0772 0951736
"JOY - Jesus, Others, You"

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