LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 26.AUG.2001 (01) [D/E]

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From: "Roger Thijs" <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 25.AUG.2001 (02) [D/E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
> What is the origin of this _getouw_ and _Tau_ in reference to a
weaving
> loom?  Is it derived from Dutch _touw_ and Low Saxon (Low German)
_Tau_
> 'rope', _getouw_ meaning something like "weaver's rigging"?

Franck / Van Wijk, Etymologisch Woordenboek 1912 (1976) gives:

Getouw znw, o, mln. ghetouwe, ghetauwe, o, "werktuig, tooi"
Vgl. ohd gizâwa, v, "supellex"
mhd gezouwe, o, v, "werktuig, weefgetouw, uitrusting, wagen",
mnd getouwe o, "werktuig, weefgetouw"
ofri tauwe "werktuig",
ags geâwe, geatwe v.,
on gotvar v. mv. "uitrusting"

Touwen ww, Eén in oorsprong met tooien;
.. in de vormen met lettergreepscheiding tau-j- ontstond tooi-...
mnl touwen, tooyen, toyen "gereed maken, maken, looien"...
got taujan "maken, doen, bewerken"...
... runish...  tawidho "ik maakte"
... ags tâwian "bewerken, behandelen"
....

Touw
... touw... "werk" (van vlas e.dgl.)
mnl. tou(we) o "touw" = os tou o, "werk" (mhd tau, oorspr. ndd) ........

I understand for "touw" there has been an shift in meaming from
"manufacturing" to "machining of flax" to "rope".
When a weaving machine is called "getouw" one rather feels a link to
"touw" (rope) than to "machine". I'm not aware of "touwen" as verb still
having a sense of "making just something".

PS In the song, please read:
Djikke djakke, kerrekoltjes klits klets
for
Djikke djakke, kerrekoltjes klit_ klets

Regards,
Roger

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From: Margaret Tarbet <oneko at mindspring.com>
Subject: Etymology

>> Al onder de weverkens hun getouw,
>
>I take it _getouw_ refers to the weaver's loom.  Some Northern Low Saxon
>dialects of Germany have _Tau_ [t`a%U] for 'loom',
>...
>_Tau_ 'rope' (which has also been borrowed into German) comes from Middle
>Low Saxon _touwe_, and I assume Middle Dutch also had _touwe_.

And it seems to have survived with a weaving connection in Scots:
e.g,. in Rab Burns's _The Weary Pund o'Tow_:

        I bought my wife a stane o' lint,
        As gude as e'er did grow,
        And a' that she has made o' that
        Is ae puir pund o' tow.

        The weary pund,
        the weary pund,
        The weary pund o' tow;
        I think my wife will end her life,
        Before she spin her tow.

Margaret

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Thanks for the responses (above), Roger and Margaret.

I din't even bother to check Scots but should have, Margaret.  So thanks.

According to Chambers' _Concise Scots Dictionary_, you got (in short):

(1) TOW &c [tVu] 'tow, flax or hemp fibre, twine, string, etc.' (19th
cent.)

(2) TOW &c [tVu] 'rope, cord, length of strong twine' (and then various
types of specific ropes)

These seem to be cognates of Middle Dutch and Middle Low Saxon (Low German)
_touwe_ 'rope' (> D. _touw_, LS _touw_ ~ _Tau_ > German _Tau_), and I
assume that is the meaning in the song as well.  There is no mention of
looms, Middle Dutch and Middle Low Saxon _getouwe_ (> D. _getouw_, LS
_touw_ ~ _Tau_), though that doesn't mean that this does not exist in Scots
also (especially given artisans' emigration to Scotland from the Low
Countries).

Regairds,
Reinhard/Ron

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