LL-L "Language contacts" 2002.05.14 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 14.MAY.2002 (01) * 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: "Marco Evenhuis" <evenhuis at zeelandnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Language contacts" 2002.05.13 (07) [E]

Ron wrote:

> Then there is Scots _keek_ 'to peep', apparently also known in British
> English (as a Scots loan, I suppose).  In Dutch you have _kijken_, and
> in Low Saxon _kieken_ ['ki:kN=], both meaning 'to look'.  Middle English
> had _kike_ (presumably pronounced ['ki:k@]).  The Oxford Dictionary only
> makes the reader compare this with Dutch _kijken_, does not say it is a
> loan.  However, apparently there is no Old English cognate.  What
> particularly intrigues me is that this word did not undergo the expected
> shift /ii/ > /ai/ (and Scots /ii/ > /@i/?), i.e., is not *_kike_ *[kaIk]
> but _keek_ [ki:k].  Might this mean that, if there were English and
> Scots cognates, _keek_ came to be reintroduced?  If so, and if it was
> Dutch, it would have been before Dutch underwent the ii > ij (/ii/ >
> /^I/) shift.  (When was that?).  Low Saxon, of course, never underwent
> this shift.

Zeelandic still has the form _kieke_, pronounced the same way as the
Middle
English _kike_ that Ron described.
In Dutch, the shift from ii to ij or ai, started off in the second half
of
the sixteenth century. Within a century or so, most parts of the
provinces
of North and South Holland and Utrecht had allready shifted from ii to
ij or
ai. In some parts it took a bit longer and even today there are a few
rare
exceptions to the general rule that medieval ii's are now pronounced as
an
ij in Holland. The isle of Texel is such an exception, just as most
dialects
of the former isle of Voorne, about 30km southwest of Rotterdam (which
was
once completely Zeelandic in speech). I believe the former isle of
Wieringen
(West-Friesland, the northernmost tip of the province of North Holland)
also
kept ii.

>  I suspect Dutch _kiel_ to be a loan, for otherwise I would
> expect *_kijl_.  But is it an English loan or a Low Saxon one?
> Difficult, since Dutch has had maritime contacts with both speech
> communities.  (Dutch for 'wedge' is _weg_.)  There is also the English
> term 'to keelhaul' and its Low Saxon counterpart _kielhalen_ (> German
> _kielholen_) and its Dutch counterpart _kielhalen_.  Which way did this
> term travel?

I wouldn't be surprised if _kiel_ wasn't a loan in Dutch at all. There
are
more examples of words where the ii>ij shift didn't take place. I can't
think of any right now, but there certainly are more.
Zeelandic has _kiel_ as well (with a 'short' ie, which usually
corresponds
with Dutch ij; a 'long' ie usually corresponds with Dutch ie and is
sometimes written as iee). Zeelandic also has a word like _kielgoote_
for
Dutch _zakgoot_ (a gutter between two roofs, so the lowest point between
two
houses).

>_Kru_ [kru:] '(ship's) crew' (feminine, pl. _Kruus_ [kru:s])

Zeelandic has _kro_ or _kroô_ for a group of people, usually a group of
field workers or a ship's crew.

Regards,

Marco

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