LL-L "Etymology" 2007.06.06 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  06 June 2007 - Volume 08

=========================================================================

From: john welch <sjswelch at yahoo.com.au>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2007.06.06 (01) [E]

Marcel,
Me:"The inherent connotation of deer /mountain goats / antelope is of
attractive animals of the wild, the normal hunted animal."

You:"And that is why I don't it is likely that the Boers even thought of the
Brahman ox, since that ox is a domesticated animal and the wildebees is
game."
The Springbok jumps, but "wilde" is not "jump". Buffalo and antelope are
both wild (the buffalo is more, since hunters feared it more than a
lion). Buffalo are more similar to "bees" and Boer oxen-trekkers would
probably not think of Latin "bovidae" zoological categories.   So the
"wilde" is the question, like Ger. "tier" deer, THE animal, and "gamsbart"
game, THE hunted animal.
"Kaur" horn became capra, gafr, (kh)re, the sacred reindeer and goat of
Norse myth, and not sacred horned cows of Thor. An ox-head was just a bait
to catch the Norse dragon.  Across north Eurasia, it is the deer that is
"wilde", (veldt, wohl, welt?).
John

----------

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

John,

While diminutive beestje has come to mean something like "critter" (>
"bug"), it's pretty evident by now that beest originally meant '(wild)
animal' (bestia) and then specifically "bovine" in numerous languages,
mostly the domestic sort (generic countables covered by "cattle," "fee" and
other words for "property").

When European settlers (and the label "Boers" ought to be used with great
caution) encountered the wildebeest on African soil they obviously
recognized it as a type of bovine (and it doesn't take a zoology degree to
figure that out, just by looking at them).  To them it was a wild African
cousin of their domesticated beest (> Afrikaans bees), hence a wilde beest.
I'm pretty sure that the story is as simple and mundane as this -- no
Brahmin connection (though by means am I opposed to thinking in terms of
Eurasia and to do so outside the box).

Words related to "deer" (and Tier is not a good representative due to the
uncharacteristic German d > t shift) go back to Germanic *deuzom 'animal',
from pre-Germanic *dheu'som, supposedly derived from *dheus- 'to breathe'.

In Europe the most frequently hunted animals have been deer, and it should
not come as a surprise that in some language varieties (namely in British)
they came to be referred to as "animals" par excellence.  This necessitated
the introduction of another generic term, and Romance delivered
"animal,"also a word derived from "to breath."

> and "gamsbart" game,

A Gamsbart is literally a "chamois beard," a bunch or tuft of chamois hair
worn on traditional Bavarian hats.  A chamois is a Gämse (formerly spelled
Gemse), and the male is a Gamsbock. Old German has gamiza, which appears to
be related to French chamois, Tyrolian Romance *camozza*, *camozz*, Rhaetic
(Rumantsch) *camuotsch*, *chamotsch*, etc. It is not known if the origin is
Germanic or Romance. (Bear in mind Romance c- i.e. k- here.)  So far no one
has officially suggested a connection with "game," as far as I know.  Note
that "game" for "prey" (probably via "hunt") is Anglo-specific.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070606/3dd09f13/attachment.htm>