LL-L "Etymology" 2005.06.04 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2005.05.03 (08) [E]

Diederik wrote:
> Educated foreigners use it as well, I guess. We've spent several lessons
in
> school until everyone could use it right. But most of the people with a
> feeling for the English language seemed already (=before the lessons) to
> know when to use which, and they must have gotten this from anywhere!
> I myself usually use both correct as well.

Well, at least for a German, it is very obvious when to use what, because we
have a different form of the word for each case:

wer = who
wessen = whose
wem = (to) whom
wen = whom

It is therefore natural for us to distinguish the cases this way, and easily
transferrable into English (where the only problem some people have, keeping
apart "wem" and "wen", does not exist). But then, Dutch (and French), for
example, does not make this distinction.

wie = who
wiens, van wie = whose
aan wie, naar wie = whom
wie = whom

So, how "natural" do Dutch speakers feel about using who vs. whom?

Gabriele Kahn

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From: Ben J. Bloomgren <godsquad at cox.net>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2005.05.03 (01) [D/E]

"to strike"

Does smijten have anything to do with the older English construction to
smite?
Ben

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
Subject: Etymology

Hi Ron,

Ron wrote:

> and with the help of the context in which it is used.  If you
> are a German speaker you understand the noun _Überbelastung_
> pretty much the first time you hear it used: _über_ 'over' +
> _be-last-en_ "to make burdened" = 'to burden', 'to exert pressure'
> + _-ung_ marking a deverbal noun.  In the case of its usual English
> equivalent "excessive pressure" it depends on your
> educational level if you understand it the first time you
> hear it used.  However, even that may be an overstatement,
> because most speakers know the words "excess(ive)" and
> "pressure," and their Romance origin is really immaterial.

I fully agree with what you wrote in your last post about etymology...but I
thought to myself: "Is "overload" not acceptable anymore these days in the
US?" *s*

"Overkill" is. *s* Is there any other Germanic language in which "overkill"
can be adequately translated?

Btw, re another "over"-word: "overripe", many Southern Dutch dialects use
this special word "mouter", pronounced _mater_ in Brabantish. Interesting
word I think, 'cause Old Norwegian (and Old High German) have "maltr" for
"rotten", just like present day Swedish dialect "multer", "malt" ("rotten")
and Norwegian "molten" ("soft"). Sure, "to melt" (E) is a cognate.

I think, we all like to borrow once in a while, provided that the word is
short.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
Subject: Etymology

Beste liëglanners,

I mentioned overripe fruit in my previous posting (_mouter_ (D)). Another
fine Dutch verb is sometimes used here: _muiken_ (also _meuken_ and
_muken_), denoting the softening of fruit (hence _ne meuk_ is a vault where
such fruit is stored). The word has interesting family: meek (E)
("deemoedig", "ootmoedig" in Dutch), Old Norse _mjukr_ ("weak"), Old Irish
_mocht_ ("soft") and Gothic _mukamodei_ ("meekness").

Meekness...aaaaah...key-value in the East...scoring high in the West during
the Middle Ages...but now: gone forever?

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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