LL-L "Etymology" 2004.01.18 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: kcaldwell31 at comcast.net <kcaldwell31 at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.01.18 (01) [E]

<This Old Saxon _fano_ appears to correspond to Old English _fana_ (as well
<as Old German _fano_, Old Norse _fani_ and Gothic _fana_, from Old Germanic
<*_fanon_). Its Modern English survival is "vane," nowadays mostly appearing
<in "weathervane," which apparently began as a piece of cloth.

The word also survives in Modern English as "fanion," a small flag for
marking a position, as used by surveyors et al., as well as the
ecclesiastical term "fanon," a shoulder cape worn by the Pope when
celebrating a solemn pontifical Mass.

Kevin Caldwell

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From: denis dujardin <dujardin at pandora.be>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.01.18 (01) [E]

In addition to my former remark, concerning "vane" the expression, is
used in southern westflemishin a more "poetic" way.
It goes like: " loapen in zin vliegende voane" (running around in his
flying """vane"""")............

denis dujardin
westflanders

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Etymology"

> From: Gavin Falconer <Gavin.Falconer at gmx.net>
> Subject: wrocht
>
> There appears to be an English verb "to wrought", a back
> formation from the
> archaic past tense of "to work".  There also seems to be a Dutch/Flemish
> verb
> "wrochten".  How many other Lowlands languages have similar forms?  I'd be
> particularly interested in attestations for Scots.  A number of
> modern Scots
> writers seem to have been using "wrochtin" as the present continuous form,
> but
> does anyone use it in speech, or have they heard others doing so?

"Wrocht" [roxt] in Scots means "worked". In speech I use it
most often in the phrase "wrocht tae daith" (meaning exhausted
from some onerous activity).

I can't see what "wrochtin" could possibly mean, other than "I
am a wannabee Scots writer who doesn't realise that 'wrocht' is
past tense"  :)

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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

Hmmm ... something "weird" is going on with this "wrought," though, at least
in English.  Yes, it *is* the old past participial form of "to work" (< Old
English _wyrcan_), but it survives as an archaism with somewhat specialized
meanings: something like "forged" or "crafted"  in "wrought iron," with the
meaning "affected" in expressions like "it wrought powerfully upon him,"
with the meaning "resulted" or "fulfilled" in "it wrought her will" (i.e.,
"it acomplished her purpose").  You can also say things like "the dough has
been wrought thoroughly" instead of "the dough has been worked (i.e.,
kneaded, etc.) thoroughly," if you insist on an archaic style.  And then
there is the surviving noun "wright" meaning "maker" or "craftsman," as in
"shipwright," "wheelwright" and "playwright" ... semantically not identical
with "worker."

I keep wondering if there has been some ancient "fusion" of two verbs,
considering also Lowlands Saxon (Low German): _warke(l)n_ ('to work' >) 'to
craft' versus _wrachten_ 'to work hard', 'to slave', 'to struggle'.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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