LL-L "Etymology" 2002.10.28 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 28.OCT.2002 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Lowlanders,

Apparently, the origin of English "black" is unknown, but I would like us to
take a crack at shedding some light on it anyway.

As most of you know, other Germanic languages have _swart_, _swatt_,
_svartur_, _svart_, _Schwarz_, _shvarts_, etc. (< Germanic *swart-az_), for
the color, which are related to obsolete English _swart- and _swarty_ 'of
dark hue', and to _swarthy_ 'dark-skinned'.

In Scots we have the cognate _blaik_ 'shoe-polish', which, as Colin Wilson
writes in his Scots textbook, can be of any color (e.g., brown: _broon
blaik_).

In many Lowlands Saxon (Low Saxon) dialects, _Black_ means 'ink', which,
again, does not have to be of black color (though originally it probably
was, being made from some sort of soot).  Danish has _blæk_, Dano-Norwegian
(Bokmål) _blekk_, Swedish _bläck_ and Icelandic _blek_ in the same sense,
also Old and Middle German _blah_.  (Cf. WFries. _bleek_, Dutch _bleek_, LS
_bleek_ [blEIk], German _bleich_, D. _bleg_, D-N. _blek_, S. _blek_, Icel.
_bleikur_ 'faded', 'pale', 'colorless', cf. English _bleak_, _bleach_).

Any input would be appreciated.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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