LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.09 (02) [E]

Thu Sep 9 15:29:14 UTC 2004

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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: Tom <jmaguire at pie.xtec.es>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (07) [E]

From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>

>Subject: Etymology
>
>Dear all,
>
>there is one word in the English langauge that has puzzled me for years,
>because I have no idea where it comes from and what it is really supposed
to
>mean, although I more or less know what it designates.
>
> The word is "varsity", and it seems to be used for the No. 1 sports teams
>of schools and universities. There is no German equivalent, of course,
since
>German schools and universities do not have sports teams.
>
>Is there a similar word in other Lowlands languages? Is "varsity" used for
>anything else in the English language? And what's the etymology? My best
>guess is that it could be of Latin origin, but beyond that I have no idea.
>
>Anyone?
>
>Gabriele Kahn
>
Hello Gabriele,

"Varsity" is probably a shortened form of the word 'University'. It is a
variant of an earlier short form "versity"/./

Regards,

Tom

--
Carpe Diem.
-Visit Nlp in Education  http://www.xtec.es/~jmaguire
-Join Nlp-Education  mailto:nlp-education-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
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From: Thomas <t.mcrae at uq.net.au>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (07) [E]

Gabriele Kahn <globalmoose at t-online.de> enquired
> Subject: Etymology
> The word is "varsity",
This was used by University students around Britain from at least the 1920's
to refer to University and had rather Upper Class connotations. eg "I say
Old Bean, do you go to Varsity". Edinburgh students presented a revue for
years called 'Varsity Vanities'. This snooty term is now largely replaced by
'Uni' or in Queensland 'Bloody Uni' with th eadvent of working class kids to
this old middle class domaine.

Regards
Tom
Tom Mc Rae PSOC
Brisbane Australia
"The masonnis suld mak housis stark and rude,
To keep the pepill frome the stormes strang,
And he that fals, the craft it gois all wrang."
>>From 15th century Scots Poem 'The Buke of the Chess'

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From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Etymology

I had assumed that the sound shift from "[uni]versity" to "varsity" had the
same cause as that in "clerk" and "derby" and "Berkeley" and in "person" =>
"parson" (ie a cleric - a vicar or rector).

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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From: David Barrow <davidab at telefonica.net.pe>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (08) [E]

>From: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
>Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (07) [E]
>
>Gabrielle asked:
>"Is "varsity" used for anything else in the English language?"
>
>Yes, I believe it is.  One would be the "varsity bookstore" which is the
>bookstore affiliated with a university.  It's not a bookstore for jocks.  I
>just checked a dictionary here at my office, and it says that "varsity"
>comes from a shortened form the word "university" in which the "e" changes
>to "a" for some reason that wasn't explained.
>
>Mark Brooks
>
/Er/ to /Ar/ is a fairly regular sound change in English:
MidE fer, derk, berk, bern, bergh, derling, dwergh, ferthing, werre
ModE far, dark, bark, barn, barrow, darling, dwarf, farthing, war
also
UK pronunciation of clerk and derby
and doublets like
university varsity, person parson

David Barrow

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From: Ruth & Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (07) [E]

Dear Gabriele,

Subject: Etymology

>  The word is "varsity", and it seems to be used for the No. 1 sports teams
> of schools and universities.

I b'lieve it is an abbreviation of the word 'uni[versity]'. Competition
between university teams & outsiders made it necessary to identify those
teams a student belonged to as a representative of the university (ie Oxford
& Cambridge) & those he joined under some other banner (ie Ist Zingari).
Another such abbreviation is 'soccer' from 'As[soc]iation' as in
'Association Football'. 'Course, American students tend to carry
abbreviation a bit too far, like 'U' as in 'Watsamatter U'.

There is no German equivalent, of course, since
> German schools and universities do not have sports teams.

This can only be to the credit of the German schools,  universities & sports
teams.

Yrs,
Mark

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From: ezinsser at icon.co.za <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (08) [E]

Haai almal,

Gabrielle, varsity is the same as when you'd say Uni instead of Universitt.
It's not your
child posing the question, is it?

Mark the "e" changing to "a" occurs quite regularly. 'Newer' examples that I
know of are:
English- Sir turning into Sah
German - Jesus turning into an euphemistic(?)Jassas.

Older forms of this type abound:
paard -perd/ kaars -kers / aartappel-ertappel/ bersten -bars

During my "prille jeug", we'd occasionally refer to varsity (with a
pronounced R in
Afrikaans) but mostly not using the shortened form.

Groete,
Elsie Zinsser

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From: sam s claire <gamlhs at juno.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.08 (07) [E]

Varsity: a corruption of UNIVERSITY
Sam

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

Folks,

Gabriele's question about "varsity" and the responses of John Feather, David
Barrow and Elsie Zinsser above prompt me to revisit my perpetual question
about this /er/ to /ar/ shift.

Is this shift a predominent feature of certain English dialects, and, if so,
what is their ancestry?  Can we really talk about a relatively recent shift,
or might this go back to certain Old or Middle English varieties?

Note that pretty much the same shift occurred in Lowlands Saxon (Low
German), especially in the North Saxon varieties; e.g.,

OS=Old Sax., LS=Mod.Low.Sax., OE=Old Eng., ME=Mod.Eng., OF=Old Fries.,
WF=Westerl.Fries., Sc=Scots, D=Dutch, G=German

OS  |  LS  |  OE  |  ME  |  Sc  |  OF  |  WF  |  D  |  G
werk  | wark | weorc | work | wark | weorc | wurk | werk | Werk
kirika/kerika | kark | circe | church | kirk | szereke/szurke/tzierka/tziurk
| tsjerke | kerk | Kirche
berg  | barg | beorƽ | barrow | ? | berch | berg | Berg
herta  | hart | heorte/hearta* | heart | hert* | hert | hart | Herz
? | smart | smeart | smart | smert | smairt | smart | Schmerz

* Old Northumbrian _hearta_

By the way, for those of you who do not already know this, let me add that
the pronunciation of North Saxon /ar/ is pretty much in the same range as
that of Australian English as well as that of Bostonian and certain other
New England varieties: [a:].  If you pronounce LS _hart_ and _mark_ in the
way those English dialects do ([ha:t], [ma:k]) it's perfect, and the meaning
is the same too.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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