LL-L "Etymology" 2009.04.09 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 09 April 2009 - Volume 03
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From: Hellinckx Luc <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

Beste Ron,



You wrote:

 You find this for instance in the American folksong "Polly-Wolly Doodle":



Fare thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy *fey*.
For I'm going to Lou'siana, for to see my Susianna,
Singing Polly-Wolly Doodle all the day.



Apparently the adjective here follows the noun, as in "Mother dear".



Shouldn't "fey" in this case rather be interpreted as "fay" (~ fee (D) =
fairy queen < fée (F) < fata, the Fates)?



There's also "feeks" in Dutch, which is quite the opposite, a witch. De
Vries views "feeks" as cognate with "feige" (G) (final s < mirroring with
"heks"), "veeg" (D) through Old Saxon "fēkn", Old English "fācn" both
meaning "deceit" < *feihhan (list, deceit) ~ piśuna (Skr. moody,
treacherous), piger (Latin, lazy). By the way, this reminds me of a
Brabantish word for a lazy woman: "ön vak", coincidence I guess.



And now, strangely enough, at the crossroads of all this: The Picts (<
*Peihta), whose name is also thought to be cognate with "feige". OED gives
this:



*"In Scottish folk-lore the Pechts are often represented as a dark pygmy
race, or an underground people; and sometimes identified with elves,
brownies, or fairies."*



Also in the same family: Fehde (G) ~ feud and foe!



Kind greetings,



Luc Hellinckx

•

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