LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.19 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  19 January 2008 - Volume 03
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Our Mark wrote this morning (his evening):

Could this word 'j*o*fel' be related to the English 'jovial' ie jolly,
cheerful, magnanimous, attributes of the Roman god Jove? Afrikaans also has
'joviaal'.

For what it's worth, it has a ring of possibility (if not genius) to me, and
not only because of the close relationship of "v" and "f" in Dutch and the
well-known tendency among Germanic languages to apply Germanic stress to
loanwords (especially in earlier time).

Having ruminated on this splendid proposal about *jofel* for a while, I came
to think of another Lowlandic word that, although perhaps not a loanword,
has a similar semantic range, including both negative and positive depending
on context. It always describes a person or that person's attitude of
actions. It's a Low Saxon word that is also used in Missingsch (i.e. German
varieties on Low Saxon substrata) and Missingsch-derived North German: *
tutig* [ˈtʰuːtɪç] 'awkward', 'simple-minded', 'naive', 'childlike',
'innocent', 'trusting'. These glosses don't quite cover the range. I can't
think of one that describes this quality less as a fault, something like
"unquestioningly devoted and accommodating' perhaps, suggesting also a
certain sweetness in many contexts. A question can be *tutig* (innocent,
without preconception), or, say, a husband can act *tutig* for the sake of
peace (as in the British sitcom "Keeping up Appearances," known in the
Netherlands as "Schoon schijn" and in Germany as "Mehr Schein als Sein").

I have no idea about the origin of this word. Does anyone else?
Theoretically, the root ought to be **tuut*, but these days there's only *
Tuut* 'toot', 'horn' (for blowing on), and in Eastern Friesland dialects the
diminutive *Tutje* 'kiss'.

Are there any relatives in other Lowlands varieties.

(NB: In Dutch and Afrikaans spelling it would be **toetig*.)

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron
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