LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 05.OCT.2001 (02) [E/LS]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 05.OCT.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: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Christian Chiarcos and Mathieu van Woerkom wrote:

> > * fastelabend subst.m. "carnival (Fasching)" (= low saxon?)
> > NS _Fastelavend_ ~ _Fasselavend_ etc. id. (< _fasten_ 'to fast' +
> > _Avend_ 'evening'?; cf. German _Fastnacht_ id.)

> interesting, as far as I know, in WP _fastenabend_ is preferred
> (although Herrmann-Winter has _fastelabend_ only). The  CP -el-suffix
seems
> to be more archaic.

The Limburgisch word for carnival is also _vastelaovend_, so with -el-suffix

_Fastelavend_ predominates in Northern Low Saxon and the dialects of
Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania.  Variants are _Fastelabend_, _Fasselavend_,
_Fasselabend_, _Faselabend_, _Fasslaamd_ and _Fasslaam_.  Even though _fasten_
'to fast' appears to be at the etymological root of it (cf. German
_Fastnacht_), many people familiar with the varieties without /t/ apparently
assume that it is derived from the verb _faseln_ 'to talk nonsense', 'to be up
to shenanigans' (also 'to hesitate', 'to stall').

Helge Tietz asked:

> Ik heff all een tid lang oeverligg of de twee woer
> "twee" (foer t.b. "nummer twee") un "twaai" (foer t.b.
> "dat glass is twaai") een un dat soelvige word suend
> edder of dat twee verscheedene wuddeln hett. Weet een
> wat daar oever ?
>
> In Northern Low Saxon we have the word "twee" for
> number two and "twaai" for something is broken as e.g.
> "dat glass is twaai". I wonder whether both words stem
> from the same root or whether they are derived
> differently and if yes, where is "twaai" coming from ?

I have long wondered about this and so far have not come up with any evidence
to support my various theories.  I used to assume that _twei_ [tva.I]
'asunder', 'broken', was influenced by German _zwei_ [tsvaI] 'two' (cf.
_entzwei_ 'asunder', 'broken').  However, my current theory is that _twei_ is
a specialized alternative for _twee_ [tvE.I] 'two'.  This would be similar to
German where, to avoid confusion with _eins_ [?aIns] 'one' and _drei_ [draI]
'three', you may say _zwo_ [tsvo:] instead of the usual _zwei_ [tsvaI] 'two'
(cf. e.g. _English _two_ and Swedish _två_ 'two').  It is also similar to
archaic English *_tway_ besides _two_, as in _the twain_ 'the two of them' and
_twayblade_ ("two-blade") 'terrestial orchid' (_Liparis_ or _Listera_).

By the way, Christian, while I applaud your willingness to spell
alternatively, and your spelling _twaai_ is consistent with certain systems
used in the Netherlands, I believe that phonemically-based it ought to be
spelled _twai_ (phonemically /tvai/).  What is going on here is that Northern
Low Saxon has a consistent vowel-lengthening rule: a phonemically short vowel
is lengthened before a sonorant (i.e., glide, liquid or nasal); e.g., /tvai/
_twei_ (NL _twa(a)i_) 'asunder', /ein/ _een_ (NL _ein_) [?E.In] 'one', /vold/
_Wold_ ~ _Woold_ ~ _Wohld_ [vo.lt] 'woods', 'forest', /kark/ _Kark_ [k`a:k]
'church', /anter/ _Anter_ ['?a.nt3] 'answer', /man/ _Mann_ (NL _ma(a)n_)
[ma.n] 'man'.  If _twai_ had a phonemically long vowel, it would be pronounced
something like *[tv@:I] ~ *[tvO:I] ~ *[tvo:I], because the phonemically long
_a_ has more or less rounding ([@:] ~ [O:] ~ [o:]).  Instead, the
pronunciation of the _a_ in _twai_ is exactly the same as that of the short
_a_, only somewhat longer, namely phonetically lengthened.

The majority of North Saxon dialects are of the /ei/ type (e.g., /ein/ _een_ ~
_ein_ [?E.In] 'one', /leid/ _Leed_ ~ _leid_ [lE.It] 'song', /stein/ _Steen_ ~
_stein_ 'stone').  A minority, mostly used in the far east and far west
(including Groningen) are of the /ai/ type (e.g., /ain/ _ein_ ~ _a(a)in_
[?a.In] 'one', /laid/ _Leid_ ~ _la(a)id_ [la.It] 'song', /stain/ _Stein_ ~
_sta(a)in_ 'stone').  In the /ei/-type dialects, the diphthong /ai/ occurs
very rarely.  In fact, off the top of my head I can think only of a handful of
words in which it occurs (using only German-based spelling): /tvai/ _twei_
[tva.I] 'asunder', /krai/ _Kreih_ [kra.I] 'crow', /krai-/ _kreihen_ [kra.In]
'to crow', _Ei_ [?a.I] 'egg', /klai/ _Klei_ [kla.I] 'clay', /klai-/ _kleien_
[kla.In] 'to heap up clay', 'to gather', /baier-/ _beiern_ ['ba.I3n] 'to
toll', 'to ring', /vaifl-/ _weifeln_ ['va.If=ln] 'to move in the wind', 'to
flutter', /ai/ _ei!_ [?a.I] (expression of surprise, dismay or delight), /ai-/
_eien_ [?a.In] 'to caress', 'to pet' (< 'to say 'Ei!' (while petting)"), /aiS/
_eisch_ [?a.IS] 'naughty' (< "to be of the sort that makes people say 'Ei!' in
dismay").  Besides that, /ai/ tends to occur mostly in German loanwords, e.g.,
/fain/ _fein_ [fa.In] 'fine' = 'nice', 'posh' (< German _fein_ [faIn]) vs.
native /fiin/ _fien_ [fi:n] 'fine' = 'delicate', 'thin'.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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