LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.08 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  07 December 2007 - Volume 04
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Ed Alexander <edsells at cogeco.ca>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.08 (02) [E]

At 11:42 AM 08/12/2007 -0800, Ingmar wrote:
>
>In Dutch we call that "Sint Juttemis", or "als Pasen en Pinksteren op één
>dag valt" (when Easter and Whitsuntide are celebrated the same day".

Well, that will be a day to remember - since Whitsunday is a moveable feast
celebrated fifty days following Easter!

Ed Alexander.

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

Folks,

I find "monkey" to be one of your more fascinating and vexing as well as
Lowlandic words when it comes to etymology. (Besides, it has so many
meanings!) At the very end here, please see what the *Oxford English
Dictionary* says about etymological theories.

What I am wondering is if there has been convergence of the mentioned
derivations and the adoption of (late) Middle Dutch (or Middle Saxon?) **
mannek(i)e* '(little) man' (cf. Scots *mannie*), as opposed to the mentioned
*moneke* for 'monkey'.

In particular, I am thinking of the use of "monkey" to label a man that
performs a supposedly subservient job. This seems to have begun with
"powder-monkey" (a "boy" in charge of gun powder supply), which seems to go
back to the sailing days of the 17th century. The words "road-monkey" (a guy
in charge of logging road repair) and "grease-monkey" (a guy in charge of
greasing engines) seem to have been created in the 19th and 20th centuries
on the pattern of "powder-monkey."

Furthermore, I am also wondering if "monkey" for "boy" is due to Dutch
infusion. It occurs particularly in early colonial settings where it
referred to 'indigenous male child.' In some colonial pidgins and creoles it
came to mean simply 'boy' in general (e.g., Tok Pisin and Bislama *manki*,
e.g. TP *siki manki* 'naughty/cheeky boy').

(The 17th-century introduction of "monkey" in the sense of 'penis' could
also be a case of convergence of "(capricious) monkey" and "little
man/guy.")

So, I'm not saying that "monkey" as a whole has this origin. What I am
suggesting is that in some cases Dutch **mannek(i)e* came to be assimilated
or integrated as "monkey" by way of analogy.

What do you think?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

****
*Oxford English Dictionary*:

[Perh. < an unattested Middle Low German **moneke* (inferred from *Moneke*,
the name of a character in *Reynard the Fox*, attested earlier in a French
context as *Monnekin*, *Monnequin* (*c*1330): see note below), prob. a
diminutive formation (see -KIN) < Middle French *monne* (1545; French *mone*),
either < Italian *monna*, *mona* (*c*1547) or its probable etymon Spanish *
mona* (1438; later also *mono* (1494)), prob. shortened < *maymon* (1270) <
Arabic *maym**ūn* (adjective) blessed (13th cent. in *Vocabulista*, glossed
'beatus'), (noun) monkey. The reason for this application of Arabic *maym**ū
n* is conjectural: it may be a euphemism by antiphrasis (cf. the divine
injunction in the Qur'an to transgressors 'be ye apes, despised and
rejected'). The reason for the loss of the first syllable of the Arabic word
is also unclear.
     It is tempting to see the single attestation of MANCOWE *n.* as an
earlier variant of the present word, although it is difficult to relate
formally to the assumed etymon or to the attested forms of the English word,
and the resemblance may be no more than coincidental.
     The Middle Low German version of *Reynard the Fox* (1498) has (only
once, l. 6161) *Moneke* as the name of the son of Martin the Ape; early in
the 14th cent. the same character is mentioned as *Monnekin* (also in a
textual variant *Monnequin*) by the Hainaulter Jean de Condé in *Li Dis
d'Entendement* (Scheler) 853 (the passage is also printed by Chabaille as a
'branche' of the *Roman du Renart*). As the name does not occur in any other
version of *Reynard*, the English word is very unlikely to be derived from
the story. But the proper name may represent an otherwise unrecorded Middle
Low German **moneke*, Middle Dutch **monnekijn*, a colloquial word for
monkey, and this may have been brought to England by showmen from the
continent.
     Romance diminutive forms include Middle French *monin*
(masculine, *c*1345),
*monine* (feminine, mid 16th cent.), Old Occitan *monina* (1470; Occitan *
monin* (masculine), *monina* (feminine)), Italian *monnina* (16th cent. in
form *monnino*) and [image: {dag}]*monicchio* (Florio, 1598).
     With Spanish forms which exhibit loss of initial syllable, cf. Occitan
*mouno* female ape, Portuguese *mona* (16th cent.). Spanish *mona* or
Portuguese *mona* > the scientific Latin specific name for a type of guenon:
see MONA *n.* Cf. also MONE *n.*4
     With Spanish forms which do not exhibit loss of initial syllable, cf.
post-classical Latin *maimo* (11th cent.), Catalan *maymon* (1284), Old
French *maimon*, *mainmonnet* (*c*1290 as plural *mainmonnes*; 1351 in
Middle French as *memon*; 15th cent. as *mimonet*, *mimmonet*), Old Occitan
*maimon* (1339), Italian *mamone*, *mammone* (13th cent.; mid 15th cent. as
*maimone*).
     The association of monkeys with ideas of lechery and sexuality (see
senses 1b and 25) is reflected in various other European languages; with
sense 25a, cf. Italian *monina* (Aretino), *mona* (1905), Modern Greek *
μουνί*. With sense 25b perh. cf. the 17th-cent. association of the monkey's
tail with the penis: see G. Williams *Dict. Sexual Lang. & Imagery in
Shakespearean & Stuart Lit.* (1994) II. 900-2.
     In sense 24 perh. suggested by the initial *m* of *mortgage*.
     Sense 29 perhaps arises from sense 16, in spite of the relative
chronology of the earliest attestations for each. (E. C. Brewer *Dict.
Phrase & Fable* (1895) suggests a Dutch parallel *zuiging de monky*, but
this appears not be attested elsewhere.) Perh. cf. also 16. For wider
association of monkeys with drunkenness in regional French, and in Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, and German see *Französisches Etymol. **Wörterbuch* s.v.
*maimūn* and J. Corominas *Diccionario Crítico Etimológico de la Lengua
Castellana* (1981) s.v. *mona*.]
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