LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.20 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  20 January 2008 - Volume 03
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From: Theo Homan <theohoman at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.19 (05) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
[...]
> Theo:
>
> And so we have 'tut / toet / tuut' with the meaning
> of 'mouth', and there
> you go: the link with Oldgermanic.
>
> "Mouth"?! How so?

I'm sorry, Reinhard,
I didn't mean to say that the oldgermanic stem had the
meaning 'mouth'; and I didn't mean to say that these
words were just meaning 'mouth'. But we are glad with
your greater accuracy.

vr.gr.
Theo Homan

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From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.19 (03) [E]

Hi All,

Ron, I've also understood the Missingsch tutig as the Afrikaans tugtig
('goed' / 'ordentlik')
and German taugend/tüchtig".

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

Thanks, Elsie and Theo.

Elsie, *tugtig* in Afrikaans is interesting and looks like a German loan (*
tüchtig* 'capable', 'competent', 'hard-working', 'good', 'strongly',
'severely') because of the /t/, which is a German derivation from West
Germanic /d/. The Low Saxon cognate with the same meaning is *d**üchtig*,
Middle English still used *doughty* in the same sense (
http://lowlands-l.net/anniversary/english-m-verse1-roman.php), and Dutch has
*duchtig* for 'thorough', 'severe', 'strict'.

Change of topic ...

Here's an interesting etymological twist in Low Saxon:

*Slamassel*, like its German cognate *Schlamassel*, means things like
'misfortune', 'mishap', 'dire situation', etc. They are derived from
Rotwelsch which got it from Yiddish שלימזל *shlimazl* (with the same
meaning).

First of all, what's interesting is that Low Saxon nativized the word
phonologically by giving is the beginning *sl...* Secondly, in various Low
Saxon dialects the meaning has been extended to incorporate that of *slam* (
*Slamm*, German *Schlamm*) 'mud'. (Might this be a German loan, since the
usual Low Saxon word is *mud* ~ *mudder *~ *modder*?)

By the way, there have been various theories as to the origin of Yiddish
שלימזל *shlimazl*. The component מזל *mazl* is clear: Hebrew מַזָל
*mazâl*'fortune', 'fate' (also used in the colloquial Dutch greeting
as
*de mazzel*). The most plausible explanation seems to be that
*Schlamassel*goes back to early Judeo-German שלים מזל
*shlim mazl* where *shlim* is a cognate of German *schlimm* 'dire',
'seriously bad'.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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