LL-L "Etymology" 2007.10.26 (08) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  23 October 2007 - Volume 08
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From: Danette & John Howland <dan_how at msn.com>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2007.10.26 (06) [E/LS]

Hello, Lowlanders.

Heiko's question about LS equivalents of "Siedlung" made me wonder if the
root of this word is cognate to OE "sidu."
If so, it's interesting that in this root as well as that of "Wohnung" and
(what I assume are English relatives) "wean" and "wont" we find the idea of
custom related to words having to do with placement.

Best,

John Howland

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

Hi, John!

I take it you mean Old English sidu 'custom', 'way', which comes from
Germanic *sedu- ~ *sidu- < Indo-European *su̯ē̆dʰ- 'peculiarity' and is
related to German Sitte 'custom', 'traditional way'.

German Siedlung and the verb siedeln are cognates of English "settle(ment)"
and 'to settle," derived from Old German sedal and Old English seðal (Old
Saxon seðal) 'settlement', 'domicile', related to words for "to sit" and "to
set".

German wohnen 'to dwell' is a cognate of Low Saxon wanen (wahnen, wohnen),
Dutch wonen and now archaic English (though still used in northern dialects
and in Scots) "wone" and "won", going back to Old German wonên, Old Saxon wunôn
~ wonôn, Middle Dutch wonen, and Old English wunian, cognate of Old Frisian
wunia ~ wonia, 'to stay', 'to dwell', 'to be accustomed' (cf. e.g. German
gewöhnen 'to accustom'). So here the basic idea appears to be *'to be
stationary', 'to be settled (in a place or routine)'. And, yes, "wean" (Old
English wenian, related to Modern Dutch and Low Saxon wennen 'to accustom')
is related to this.

The common idea of all of the above seems to be permanency.

Isn't it amazing how etymology whittles things down to a relatively small
number of root words?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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