LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.04 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  04 December 2007 - Volume 02
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
=========================================================================

From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: RE: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.01 (06) [E]

Beste Ron and Marcus,

you discussed the origin of the well-known LS word *_Botten**(pl. only!)**_*
*,* meaning 'big boots'.

Perhaps as a completion of your results let me add, that I guess a relation
to G: 'Bottich' (E: 'vat'), perhaps even LS: 'Bodden' (= shallow water,
mostly part of a bay of the sea).

I found in the DUDEN:
*quote:*
 In dem Wort mhd. botech[e], botige, ahd. botega haben sich vermutlich
roman. Abkömmlinge von griech.-lat. apotheca »Abstellraum, Magazin« (vgl. z.
B. mlat. potecha »Abstellraum, Vorratslager« und span. bodega »Weinkeller«)
und vlat. buttis »Fass« (vgl. z. B. mlat. butica und it. botte »Fass«)
miteinander vermischt. Siehe auch Böttcher und Bütte.

Duden - Das Herkunftswörterbuch, 3. Aufl. Mannheim 2001 [CD-ROM]
*unquote*

And additional: in Middle Low Saxon 'Bodden' also described a small boat
(big boots = small boats ?); jokingly we still use to say 'Elbkähne' (=
'Elbe river barges') for big boots.

[Mysteries still continue ...]

Allerbest!

Jonny Meibohm

*PS: Unbelievable! I just now hear the old famous song of any
Sinatra-daughter(?) "These boots are made for walking..." in the background,
where my son is looking TV.

----------

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

Thanks, Jonny.

To make things even weirder: Since yesterday I've been mulling over the same
set of words you proposed above!

Let me just add the (obvious?) connection with *bodega* 'wine shop', a word
many languages borrowed from Spanish.

I wonder if we are dealing with a combination of origins here,
"cross-contamination," so to speak.

Old Saxon has *budin* for what in German is *Bütte* 'vat', cognate of Old
German *butin*; cf. Medieval Latin *butina* 'drinking flask', 'cask', and
Greek *βυτίνη bytínē* ~ *πυτίνη pytínē* 'drinking flask covered by woven
wicker'. These are supposed to go back to Indo-European **beu-* 'to blow',
'to swell'. So we are talking about thick, fat, swollen things.

And here the plot thickens. In Old Saxon we also find *bodon-brāwi* ~ *bodun
brāwi* 'bleary-eye(d)', 'puffy-eye(d)', supposedly related to Middle Saxon *
boddech* ~ *boddich* 'swollen'.

And this takes us to an Indo-European diminutive version: "bottle", Low
Saxon *boddel* ~ *buddel* (*bottel* ~ *buttel*), etc., apparently from Old
French *bouteille* (in Middle English also *botel*), related to Italian *
bottiglia*, Spanish *botella*, Portuguese *botelha*, etc., apparently from
Latin *buticula* 'small vessel', diminutive of Late Latin *butis ~*
*buttis*'vessel', which is related to ... tadah! ... our old friend
the
*butt*, cognate of French *botte* ~ *boute*, etc. However, the *Oxford
English Dctionary* says it's *not* related to "boot" and that its origin is
unknown ...

The mystery does continue ...

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20071204/ac9f4908/attachment.htm>