LL-L "Etymology" 2005.09.29 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 29.SEP.2005 (02) * 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) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: Etymology

OK, so I get to do a monologue for a while, because the server, refusing to 
receive mail, is still sending mail to our mail server.

Here's another tasty morsel for you etymologists.

The English word "tram," as in "tramway" (American English "streetcar"), is 
either related to or derived from Low Saxon, probably from Middle Saxon of 
the Hanseatic period.

The _Oxford English Dictionary_ is one of those that point this out, but it 
is rather tentative about it.

Apparently, the English word "tram" comes from Scots, and in Scots it can be 
attested as far back as the 15th century (at which time the Hanseatic 
Trading League was still going strong).  The Low Saxon word supposedly 
connected with this is _traam_, as found in ann 18th-century dictionary. 
The _OED_ further gives the following cognates:
"EFris. _trame_, _trâm_ beam of wood, rung or step of a ladder, bar of a 
chair, tram of a wheelbarrow; in MLG. _trame_, _treme_, MDu. _trame_ balk or 
beam, rung of a ladder, etc.; WFlem. _traam_, _trame_."  The common meaning 
is  ‘balk, beam, e.g. of a wheelbarrow or dung-sledge, tram, handle of a 
barrow or sledge, also a rung or step of a ladder, bar of a chair’.

An older meaning of Scots and English "tram" is  'shaft of a barrow or 
cart'. A derived meaning is 'the two upright posts of a gallows; also 
humorously, in sing., a man's leg; particularly, a wooden leg', furthermore 
'a framework, barrow, or the like, on which loads are dragged, carried, or 
supported',  'the one or two lads in charge of a tram; also, the work 
performed by these', 'a quadrilateral frame or bench (like the body of a 
hand-barrow) supported on four legs or blocks, on which casks or the like 
stand, or at which an artisan works', 'a continuous line or track of timber 
beams or ‘rails’, or later of stone blocks or slabs, a parallel pair of 
which lines formed a tramway, originally in or from a mine. Hence, each of 
the wheel-tracks or ‘rails’ of a tram-road of an early type, or of a later 
tramway or railway', ' a road laid with such wooden planks or rails, or with 
parallel rows of stone slabs or of iron plates or ‘rails’, for the easier 
passage of loaded wagons, etc., in a coal-mine or above ground; a tram-road 
of an early type', and finally ' a passenger car on a street tramway; a 
tram-car'.

The word _traam_ (<Traam> < _trame_) is still in use in Low Saxon, 
particularly in the sense of 'rung (of a ladder)', synonymous with _tral_ 
(<Trall>).


In Modern Scots, too, _tram_ is still used, also with its earlier meanings 
'shaft of a barrow or cart' and 'upright gallow post', and in older Scots 
(_tram_ ~ _trahame_ ~ _tramme_) also ' sledge or cart for transporting coal, 
'sledge, consisting of two shafts and crosspieces of some sort, for 
transporting stone', 'long runners'.  There is also the word _barrow tram_.

Older Scots also uses _tram_ in the following sense, and I am wondering if 
these are related or separate words:

(1) stratagem, trick, plot
(2) (traim(me), traum(e), trawynn, tram, trame) contrivance, machination; 
tackle of a ship
(3) mechanical contrivance, machine, engine of war


Can anyone shed more light on this?  Might we be able to determine if we are 
talking merely of cognates or of a borrowing?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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