LL-L "Etymology" 2008.03.08 (02) [E]

Sat Mar 8 17:47:42 UTC 2008

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From: Henno Brandsma <hennobrandsma at hetnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.03.07 (05) [E]

Dear Heather and Ron,

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

Interesting, Heather.

I concur!
"blak" deriving from a word for burning quite makes sense: in Dutch we have
the word "blakeren",
for to scorch (mostly in specific expressions or words, like
"zwartgeblakerd" (!) [both in one]).
Also "blaken" = gloeiende hitte afgeven, so "to emit glowing heat"
I think "blakerje" also exists in West Frisian. "blak" as an adverb means
"still/smooth", said of water, when there
is hardly any wind. So I assume that might have another origin.
For ink I only known "inkt" in Dutch, and "inket" in West Frisian. Nothing
with the "blak" root that I know of.
Maybe in dialects and other varieties in the Netherlands?

Low Saxon has *swart* ~ *swatt* for 'black'. However, it has *blak* (*Black*)
for old-time soot-derived ink.

Reinhard/Ron

Regards
Henno Brandsma

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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
 Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.03.07 (05) [E]

Dear Heather and Ron,

complementary to your interesting postings about 'black >< swarthy' I found
some additional information in GRIMM (
http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/dwb/wbgui?lemid=GA00001)about
the related word (G/LS) _blaken_:
I'd recommend an additional view under lemma 'black', too- many interesting,
nowadays forgotten compositions are listed there.

And- last but not least- in the archive of LL-L I found a posting of our
David Barrow:

LL-L "Etymology" 2005.10.02 (08) [E]
Verknüpfung auf diesen Artikel  BLAKEN, nd. und nnl., und in keinem hochd.
wörterbuch, wo man blachen zu erwarten hätte (vgl. black), sowol intr.
ardere, uri, glühen, als tr. urere, amburere, nach der lautverschiebung
φλεγειν, φλογιζειν, davon

Verknüpfung auf diesen Artikel  BLAKER, m. candelabrum, gespiegelter
wandleuchter, plaker. FRISCH 1, 103b:

längs der belasteten tafel von zwölf wachskerzen erleuchtet,
einer kristallenen kron und zwanzig spiegelnden blakern.
         VOSS 2, 215.

Verknüpfung auf diesen Artikel  BLAKERIG, ignem, ustionem redolens, brandig,
dampfig: die suppe schmeckt blakerig, der rauch hat hinein geschlagen.
φλογερος liegt ganz nahe.

  BLAKERN, urere, nnl. blakeren, vgl. flackern.
...

David Barrow

black
    O.E. blÃ¦c "black," from P.Gmc. *blak- (cf. O.N. blakkr "dark," Du.
blaken "to burn"), from PIE *bhleg- "burn, gleam" (cf. Gk. phlegein "to
burn, scorch," L. flagrare "to blaze, glow, burn"). Same root produced
O.E. blac "white, bright" (see bleach), the common notion being "lack of
hue." The main O.E. word for "black" was sweart. "In ME. it is often
doubtful whether blac, blak, blake, means 'black, dark,' or 'pale,
colourless, wan, livid.' "

bleach
    O.E. blÃ¦can, from P.Gmc. *blaikos "white," from PIE *bhleg- "to
gleam," root of blanche, blank, bleak and probably black. The connection
seems to be "burning, blazing, shining, whiteness." That the same root
yielded words for "black" and "white" is probably because both are
colorless, and perhaps because both are associated with burning.

bleak
    c.1300, from O.N. bleikr "pale" (see bleach). Sense of "cheerless"
is c.1719 figurative extension. The same Gmc. root produced the O.E.
blac "pale," but this died out, probably from confusion with blÃ¦c
"black;" but bleikr persisted, with a sense of "bare" as well as "pale."

...

Allerbest!

Jonny Meibohm

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From: M.-L. Lessing <marless at gmx.de>
 Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.03.07 (05) [E]

 Hello all,

thanks for all the information about gn-words and kn-words! The word "Gnade"
seems really to have been contracted from ge-nade; here
http://www.balladen.de/web/sites/balladen_gedichte/autoren.php?b05=14&b16=177
is
a ballad by Münchhausen (19. century) containig the (quite horrible) lines *das
alte Horn, es schrie nach Blut / und wimmerte: "Gott genade!"* (Maybe
Ge-nuss is of the same type as Ge-nade, only was allowed to keep its e?) The
ballad, by the way, has been made into a song, as have been some of
Münchhausen's ballads. Quite fine melodies. The song "Jenseits des Tales" is
a ballad by Münchhausen too -- the first german ballad I know to sing about
homosexual love between men in a tender, respectful way. To become a popular
folk song, one of the lines had to be subtly changed so as to destroy every
indication of homosexuality... you now mostly find the "corrected" version
on the Web.

What I would like to know: Has the verb "to know" anything to do with this
gn-kn-family? Has it any LS analogy?

Have a nice sunny weekend!

Marlou
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