LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 26.AUG.2001 (02) [E/S]
Lowlands-L
sassisch at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 27 01:08:48 UTC 2001
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L O W L A N D S - L * 26.AUG.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachian, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic, Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Margaret Tarbet <oneko at mindspring.com>
Subject: Etymology
Roger wrote:
>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".
And Ron responded:
>(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.
Actually, if we consider the hand-loom weaver's work, I reckon the
'tow' in Rab's song is more specifically 'twist' or 'thread' than
any of those non-clothmaking-related (...er, what's the class word
for thread, twine, string, rope and similar?) called out in
Chambers. The stages, as I recall, are raw stuff (e.g.
wool)->carded lint->spun twist->spun thread->woven cloth.
Certainly I've never heard of string/rope manufacture referred to as
'spinning'. Sandy, have you? John?
Margaret
----------
From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology
Knowing next to nothing about weaving, I did not realize that English, too,
has the related word _tow_ "coarse and broken part of flax or hemp prepared
for spinning; loose bunch of rayon etc. strands;" ... "ME, f. MLG _touw_,
f. OS _tou_, rel. to ON _tó_ wool f. *_taw-_" ... (The Concise Oxford
Dictionary) -- thus, a Middle Low Saxon (Low German) loan.
Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
----------
From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Etymology"
> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
>
> 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).
A search on the proverbs in ScotsteXt brings up a fair few uses of this
word:
Get yer rock an spindle ready, God will send the tow.
Gie him tow eneuch, an he'll hang hissel.
I hae ither tow on my rock.
Let the tow gang wi the bucket.
Like the man o Ampenly's cou, she's come hame routin, but no very fou, wi
the tow aboot her horns.
Twine tow, yer mither wis a guid spinner.
When the man's fire an the wife's tow, the deil comes in an blaws't in
lowe.
Ye winna pit oot the fire wi tow.
This is fairly representative of the uses of the word,
either spun twine or rope (rope for tethering an animal,
lowering a bucket into a well, or hanging yourself, as
you can see!).
Here's a traditional story that shows the use of various
spinning and weaving terms such as spindle, card (usually
"caird" in Scots), rock-and-tow (or tow-rock), loom, clue
o yarn, and tow-cairds.
THE WEE BUNNOCK
There lived an auld man and an auld wife at the side o' a
burn. They had twa kye, five hens and a cock, a cat and
twa' kittlins. The auld man lookit after the kye, and the
auld wife span on the tow-rock. The kittlins aft grippit
at the auld wife's spindle as it tussled owre the hearth-
stane. "Sho, sho," she wad say, "gae wa'."
Ae day after parritch time she thought she wad hae a bunnock.
Sae she bakit twa aitmeal bunnocks, and set them to the fire
to harden. After a while, the auld man came in and sat down
aside the fire, and takes ane o' the bunnocks, and snappit it
through the middle. When the tither ane sees this, it rins
aff as fast as it could, and the auld wife after it wi' the
spindle in the tae hand and the tow-rock in the tither. But
the wee bunnock wan awa' and oot o' sight, and ran till it
came to a guid muckle thack house, and ben it ran boldly to
the fireside; and there were three tailors sitting on a muckle
table. When they saw the wee bunnock come ben, they jumpit up,
and gat in ahint the goodwife that was cardin' tow ayont the
fire.
"Hout," quo' she, "be na fleyt; it's but a wee bunnock. Grip
it, and I'll gie ye a sup milk till't."
Up she gets wi' the tow-cards and the tailor wi' the goose,
and the twa prentices, the ane wi' the muckle shears, and the
tither wi' the lawbrod; but it jinkit them, and ran round about
the fire; and ane o' the prentices, thinking to snap it wi' the
shears, fell i' the ase-pit. The tailor cuist the goose, and
the good-wife the tow-cards; but a' wadna do.
The bunnock wan awa', and ran till it came to a wee house at the
roadside; and in it rins, and there was a weaver sittin' on the
loom, and the wife winnin' a clue o' yarn.
"Tibby," quo' he, "what's tat?"
"Oh," quo' she, "it's a wee bunnock."
"It's weel come," quo' he, "for our sowens were but thin the day.
Grip it, my woman; grip it,"
"Aye," quo' she, "what recks! That's a clever bunnock. Kep,
Willie; kep, man!"
"Hout," quo' Willie, "cast the clue at it."
But the bunnock whippit round about and but the floor, and aff
it gaed and ower the knowe like a new-tarred sheep or a daft
yell cow.
And forrit it rins to the niest house and ben to the fireside;
and there was the goodwife kirnin'.
"Come awa', wee bunnock," quo' she; "I'se hae ream and bread
the day."
But the wee bunnock whippit round about the kirn and the wife
after't and i' the hurry she had near-hand coupit the kirn.
And afore she got it set right again the wee bunnock was aff
and down the brae to the mill; and in it ran.
The miller was siftin' meal i' the trough; but, lookin' up,
"Ay," quo' he, "it's a sign o' plenty when ye're rinnin' aboot
and naebody to look after ye! But I like a bunnock and cheese.
Come your wa's ben and I'll gie ye a night's quarters."
But the bunnock wadna trust itsel' wi' the miller and his cheese.
Sae it turned and ran its wa's out; but the miller didna fash his
head wi't.
So it toddled awa' and ran till it cam' to the smithy; and in it
rins and up to the studdy.
The smith was making horse-nails. Quo' he, "I like a bicker o'
guid yill and a weel-toastit bunnock. Come your wa's in by here."
But the bunnock was frightened when it heard about the yill, and
turned and aff as hard as it could, and the smith after it and
cuist the hammer.
But it whirlt awa' and oot o' sight in a crack, and ran till it
came to a farm-house wi' a guid muckle peat-stack at the end o't.
Ben it rins to the fireside.
The goodman was clovin' lint and the good wife was hecklin'. "O
Janet," quo' he, "there's a wee bunnock; I'se hae the hauf o't."
"Weel, John, I'se hae the tither hauf. Hit it ower the back wi'
the clove." But the bunnock played jink-aboot.
"Hout-tout," quo' the wife, and gart the heckle flee at it. But
it was owre clever for her.
Aff and up the burn it ran to the niest house and whirlt its wa's
ben to the fireside. The goodwife was stirrin' the sowens and the
goodman plettin' sprit-binnings for the kye.
"Ho, Jock," quo' the goodwife, "come here. Thou's aye crying about
a wee bunnock. Here's ane. Come in, haste ye, and I'll help ye to
grip it."
"Aye, mither, whaur is't?"
"See there. Rin ower that side."
But the bunnock ran in ahint the goodman's chair. Jock fell among
the sprits. The goodman cuist a binning and the goodwife the spurtle,
but it was ower clever for Jock and her baith. It was aff and out o'
sight in a crack, and through among the whins and down the road to the
neist house and ben to the fireside.
The folk were just sittin' doon to their sowens and the goodwife
scartin' the pat.
"Losh," quo' she, "there's a wee bunnock come in to warm itsel'
at our fireside."
"Steek the door," quo' the gudeman, "and we'll try to get a grup o't."
When the bunnock heard that it ran but the house, and they after't wi'
their spunes, and the goodman cuist his bunnat. But it whirlt awa',
and ran, and better ran till it came to another house.
When it gaed ben the folk were just gaun to their beds. The goodman
was castin' aff his breeks, and the goodwife rakin' the fire.
"What's tat?" quo' he.
"O," quo she, "it's a wee bunnock."
Quo' he, "I could eat the hauf o't for a' the brose I hae suppit."
"Grip it," quo' the wife, "and I'll hae a bit too. Cast your breeks
at it--kep-kep!"
The goodman cuist the breeks and had near-hand smoor't it, but it
warsl't out and ran, and the goodman after't wantin' the breeks;
and there was a clean chase owre the craft park and up the wunyerd,
and in among the whins; and the goodman lost it and had to come his
wa's trottin' hame hauf-nakit.
But now it was grown dark and the wee bunnock couldna see; but it
gaed into the side o' a muckle whin bush and into a tod's hole.
The tod had gotten nae meat for twa days.
"O welcome, welcome," quo' the tod, and snappit it in twa i' the
middle. And that was the end o' the wee bunnock.
"Now weans, an ye live to grow muckle, be na ower lifted up aboot
onything, nor owre sair cuisten down; for ye see the folk were a'
cheated and the puir tod got the bunnock."
Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
- C.W.Wade,
'The Adventures o McNab'
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