LL-L "Etymology" 2010.04.20 (01) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 20 April 2010 - Volume 01
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From: Niels Winther <nielswinther at gmail.com <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"



Keamer.

>From John Walter "Understanding popular violence in the English Revolution"

page 248:

... the clothiers indeede care not how many workmen there bee of weavers and
Keamers [combers] ...

Niels



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From: Jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
 Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2010.04.19 (01) [DE-EN-NDS]



Beste Reinhard,



Great minds think alike, don’t they?



Thank you very much for this great compliment!



Well - sometimes a pedestrian, basical, but investigating thinking is a
useful appendix to 'high education'; a solid 'Wortschatz' (=vocabulary)
added to some interest for the surrounding world can be helpful even for
real 'Great Minds'. And don't forget: the "look over the fence" is the main
principle of LL-L.



But a patient but sceptical, very open-minded and well educated teacher who
cares around us (I'm talking about the individual R.F. Hahn) is necessary
for the completion.



Allerbest!



Jonny Meibohm

Lower Saxony, Germany



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

Subject: Etymology



Thanks, Jonny. Lest this blossoms into an even more outrageous mutual
admiration society, let me explain that the phrase “Great minds think alike”
is often used in a facetious way, and the surest sign of that is when the
speaker includes him- or herself (which would be immodest if it were
serious). However, having said that, it applies definitely to you.

Best regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA



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From: Henno Brandsma <hennobrandsma at hetnet.nl>

Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2010.04.19 (02) [EN]



From: Niels Winther <nielswinther at gmail.com <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"



Keamer: kember or comber, one who combs( wool).

This is a footnote allegedly quoting SOED. although I can't find it in the
third edition at least.

Niels



Here we see a phenomenon we also see in Frisian: the verb for "to comb" has
Umlaut (i-mutation).

In Modern West Frisian we have the verb "kjimme" (to comb), from Old Frisian
*ke:ma (via *kieme, and then breaking the diphthong), where ke:ma has e:
from lengthened e, where e ws lengthened before mb, and b dropped
(Ersatzdehnung).

So ke:ma < *kemba < Old Germanic *kambian, probably. It's a very typical
word, combining the old lengthening before mb, with the palatalisation of
the vowel (e> ie) and breaking. Dutch has "kammen", so no lengthening or
Umlaut-relic. German has "kämmen", so umlauted, as in Frisian. I'd expect
similar forms in Low Saxon varieties. Probably Dutch also had umlauted
forms, but many of those alternations where later equalized by analogy: the
noun is "kam", so the verb "should" be "kammen", not expected "kemmen". Of
course relics also exist in Dutch ("omhelzen" (to embrace) next to "hals"
(neck), "steden" (cities) as plural of "stad", etc), but they are far more
common the more East one goes.

The noun in Frisian has no umlaut, but does have lenghtening: "kaam" (comb),
vs Dutch "kam". Also in "laam" (lamb) we have this, plural has short a:
"lammen". (note that West Frisian lost all -er plurals: we just say "aaien"
etc. In Saterlandic Frisian and North Frisian we still see -er plurals).

It seems that "keam" is quite a nice parallel to Old Frisian "ke:ma", even
Middle Frisian "*kieme" (from which kjimme derives).



Regards,



Henno



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