LL-L "Etymology" 2006.04.12 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Commands ("signoff lowlands-l" etc.): listserv at listserv.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
text from the same account to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or
sign off at http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
=======================================================================
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 (Zeeuws)
=======================================================================

12 April 2006 * Volume 03
=======================================================================

From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2006.04.11 (07) [E]

I don't realy know, but doesn't the name <<Scheria>> remind you a lot at
<<Schier>>, the colloquial name for the Wadden Sea island Schiermonnikoog,
just North of Groningen? So more or less in the same area as Helgoland...

Groets
Ingmar

>From: Marcel Bas <marcelbas at gmail.com>:
>Heligoland!
>That reminds me of a private project that I am working on. As a keen
reader
>on aristocratic cultures I am looking for all the traditional codes and
>beliefs that the personages adhere to in Homer's Odyssey. Anyway, later
>sources tell me that several scholars believe the island of the
Phaeaecians,
>Scheria, to be Heligoland. When you read about the vegetation and the
>geographic & geophysical construction of Scheria in the Odyssey, you
wonder
>how people were led to believe this. Could anyone tell us more about this?

----------

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

Interesting, Ingmar.

But I was given the impression (by the small etymologicl dictionary you 
kindly sent me) that Schiermonnikoog used to mean something like "Gray 
Monks' Island" (_schier+monnik+oog_), where _schier_ referred tp "light 
color," in this case light gray.  I believe that those are Benedictin monks. 
So that name would probably not have existed in those ancient times.

I rather wonder if this Scheria has anything to do with those sheer coastal 
precipes (Low Saxon _schaar_, e.g., on the Baltic See coast) and/or those 
rocky islands or "cut-off" rocks or cliffs along the Baltic Sea coast (e.g., 
Swedish _skär_, Norwegian _skjer_, Danish _skær_, Old Norse _sker_ > English 
"skerry," Gaelic _sgeir_, cf. Dutch _scheer_).  This is related to English 
"sheer" ('to rise/drop steeply', 'rising/dropping steeply') and German 
_Schere_ (scissors), thus with the sense of "cut."

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron 

==============================END===================================
* Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at
  http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.
======================================================================