LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.08.30 (07) [D/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)
=======================================================================

L O W L A N D S - L * 30 August 2006 * Volume 07
======================================================================

From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology'

Hoj Mark,

You wrote:
>
> In my language a 'glimlag' is a smile; a lovely word. I park it with
> 'vatsoen' our word for hug.'Glim' means to smoulder, phosphouresce, or glow,
> & as you no doubt expect, lag is laugh. 'Vat' is hold, & 'soen' means kiss.
>
Does "vatsoen" really mean hug? Thing is, in Dutch we have the word
"fatsoen", which means decency (< façon (F) ~ fashion (E), mode), but I
agree this is a far cry from "hug", eg.

"Hou je fatsoen" = "Mind your manners"
"Fatsoensridder" = "Stickler for proprieties"...

Greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

----------

From: David Barrow <davidab at telefonica.net.pe>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.08.29 (03) [E]

>From: Pat Reynolds [pat at caerlas.demon.co.uk]
>Subject: LL-L
>
>Can anyone offer an explanation for the name of Washington Irving's
>eponymous hero, Deidricht Knickerbocker?
>
>The OED says the trousers were called after the character, not the other
>way round.
>
>Has it anything to do with marbles? Huey (1985, 77) says that marbles
>are a diagnostic artefact for Dutch, as opposed to English, settlements
>in New York state.
>
>Many thanks,
>
>Pat

Pat,

From

http://www.etymonline.com/

knickerbocker
"descendant of Du. settler of New York," 1831, from Diedrich
Knickerbocker, the name under which Washington Irving published his
popular "History of New York" (1809). The pen-name was borrowed from
Irving's friend Herman Knickerbocker, and lit. means "toy marble-baker."

knickers
"short, loose-fitting undergarment," now usually for women, 1881,
shortening of knickerbockers (1859), said to be so called for their
resemblance to those of Dutchmen in Cruikshank's illustrations from
Washington Irving's "History of New York" (see knickerbocker).

David Barrow

----------

From: Theo Homan <theohoman at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.08.29 (03) [E]

> From: Roland Desnerck' [desnerck.roland at skynet.be]
> Subject: LL-L 'Idiomatica' 2006.08.29 (07) [E]

[...]
> Voor mensen kennen we de woorden "brad",

[...]

Hallo Roland,

Zijn er -door jou- nog wat dingen te zeggen over dit
woord 'brad'?
Bijv. gebruik in andere betekenissen, in oudere
teksten, in andere dialecten, ontstaan van het woord,
enz.

Het is niet dat ik in Vlaanderen graag goedbeslagen
ten ijs wil komen, maar het is een intrigerend woord.

Vr.gr.
Theo Homan

----------

From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L 'Idiomatica' 2006.08.30 (03) [A/D/E/V]

    From: 'Global Moose Translations' [globalmoose at t-online.de]
    Subject: LL-L 'Idiomatica' 2006.08.29 (07) [E]

    "Geil" has yet another meeaning in German, basically exactly the opposite:
    it means "barren", "weak", but in plants only: "Geiltriebe" (also called
    "Wasserschosse") are thin, straight twigs growing upwards from horizontal
    branches that you cut away in fruit trees because all they do is sap the
    energy of the tree.

    When I was a teenager in the seventies, "geil" still meant "horny" and we
    weren't allowed to say it; only a few years later, the "next generation" of
    teenagers started using it as a synonam . Also, in the early seventies,
    "ätzend" (caustic) was introduced to indicate something really awewome; a
    few years later, it became something really annoying, and this is the
    meaning that stayed around.

A young guy at work recently commented that he'd bought some "really rude
sunglasses" off ebay.
Do they show porno movies when you put them on? Adorned with naked ladies perchance?
 
No, of course, "really rude" is just the latest in a long line of words meaning
"very good".
This sort of semantic drift happens all the time - I can well imaging "rude"
being Standard English for "good" one day, if it endures as slang.
 
Paul Finlow-Bates

==============================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.
======================================================================