LL-L "Etymology" 2007.08.28 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  28 August 2007 - Volume 04
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
=========================================================================

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

Beste Ron,

You wrote:
> As for flies and their ilk ...
>
> Words for 'midge', sometimes 'fly':
>
> German: Mücke
> Middle German: /mucke/ ~ /mücke / ~ /mugge/ ~ /mügge
> /Dutch: /mug/
> Middle Dutch: /mugghe/ ~ /mucke/
> Old German: mugga ~ mukka ~ muck
> Low Saxon: Mügg [mYC] (< Mügge ['mYge])
> Middle Saxon:
> Old Saxon: mugga ~ muggia
> English: midge
> Old English: mydge
> Old Norse: /mý/
> Old Swedish: /myg/ ~ /mugga/ ~ /mygga/
> Swedish: my ~ /mugga/ ~ /mygg/ ~ /mygga/
> Danish: myg
> Norwegian (Nynorsk): /my/
>
> Further, words for 'fly':
>
> W. Frisian: mich
> Latin (Classical): musca
> Romanian: musca(
> Italian: mosca
> Catalan: mosca
> Castilian: mosca
> Portuguese: mosca
> French: mouche
> Albanian: /mizë/
> Greek: ????? myi~a
> Sorbian: mucha
> Polabian: mucha
> Czech: moucha
> Slovak: mucha
> Polish: mucha
> Russian: ???? muxa
> Ukrainian: ???? muxa
> Croatian: muva
> Bulgarian: ???? muxa
> Latvian: muša

The latter, all cognate with Brabantish (and Flemish): meuzie, meuze,
meus...denoting a mosquito.

*mus < Indo-European *mû, which is said to be an onomatopoeic
construction, modelled after the buzzing sound this animal makes.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070828/4d3eceac/attachment.htm>