LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 18.SEP.2000 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 18.SEP.2000 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Stefan Israel [stefansfeder at yahoo.com]
Subject: "Tymology" LOWLANDS-L

Henry

> A few days ago I read somewhere that Old-Saxon had "beorn",
> meaning "child".

We need to keep Old English/Anglo-Saxon distinct from Old Saxon
the predecessor of Platt.  Germanic *barn "child" became bearn
in Old English (beorn is Old English for "bear") and stayed
_barn_ in Old Saxon.

Stefan Israel
stefansfeder at yahoo.com

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From: Edwin Michael Alexander [edsells at idirect.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Tymology" LOWLANDS-L, 18.SEP.2000 (02) [E]

At 11:57 AM 09/18/00 -0700, Michaël COENCA wrote:
>  I wondered where this "tree" came from.
>It's "boom" in Dutch and I know from a little German I got it's "baum".

See Greek <dendron> as in Rhododendron - "Rosy tree".  Also in E "tray",
"trough", and "tar."  Apparently the root meaning is "steadfast", hence E
"true" and "trust" and "betrothal", and "truce"

>I'm also interested in the "frozen" words, such as "numb", that's the only

>survivor of the original verb "to nimb", meaning "to take" (Scandinavian
>loanword - Danelaw !).

Not really the only survivor - there's also "nimble" [quick to
seize].  "Numb" has the meaning of "seized", as in a "seizure."  What makes
you say it is a Scandanavian loanword?  This root is very common in all
Germanic languages.  Possibly related to L "numerus" and Gk "nomos" in the
sense of "distributing" or "alloting", as in meting out justice.  Speaking
of altered meanings, the Germanic use of the root may be "alloting by
force" as in taking.

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