LL-L "Etymology" 2010.03.18 (03) [DE-EN-NDS-NN]

Thu Mar 18 16:57:53 UTC 2010

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 18 March 2010 - Volume 01*
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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2010.03.17 (07) [EN]

From: Jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>

Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

 Beste Diederik,

perhaps you are able to help because you are familiar with the Norwegian
languages.

I'm looking for the meaning of Norwegian words containing "Kalve-",
"Kalven-", "Kalv-" like in 'Loppekalven', 'Kalvesund' or 'Kalvsundet'
(Finmark). I don't think that this has anything to do with E 'calf, calves'
but could be an (archaic?) word for a special type of island.
Here in my homeland, in the Elbe River we have two times this curious
"Kalv-" or "Kalb-" as well: "Kalberdanz" and "Hanskalbsand"; the
first, still well known by the natives, probably denoting a kind of flat
sand, the second is the official name for an island near Hamburg (the prefix
'Hans-' here could be a spoiled 'has-', meaning 'grey').

Sometimes coincidence is remarkable. Just some days ago I stumbled upon an
entry in Cirk Heinrich Stürenburg's Ostfriesisches Wörterbuch "Kalv:
eingestürzte Uferstrecke". I asked about it on
<http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Auskunft/Archiv/2010/Woche_09#kalben><http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Auskunft/Archiv/2010/Woche_09#kalben>.
And I created a Wikipedia article about it:
<http://nds.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalv_%28Toponym%29><http://nds.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalv_%28Toponym%29>.
So the basic meaning is a smaller island near a bigger island. And if we
abstract a bit more and combine the different meanings (young of a cow,
broken-off part of a bank, small island) we get something like "a small mass
that came from a bigger mass".

I don't think "Kalberdanz" is related. I read an entry "Kalverdanz" in one
of my dictionaries (I'm not sure which one, I'll try to look it up) and it
said that the "Kalverdanz" is a region in the Elbe mouth that is named for
it's roughness. So if you cross it with a boat it's like a calf dancing
(that's what I remember of the explanation, I will post the real text if I
find the dictionary and entry).

I too thought about "Hanskalbsand" when I found aforementioned entry in
Stürenburg's dictionary. I couldn't find any etymological data about it, but
I made some wild speculations: If "Hanskalbsand" is related to the "kalv"
group of island names, then "Hanskalv" is the base and "Hanskalbsand" is the
sand that was left when the island "Hanskalv" was washed away by the Elbe
river. Nearby we have the island "Hahnöfersand". The "öfer" part seems to be
Low Saxon "Över", German "Ufer" (English 'shore'). If "sand" again is a
secondary addition we have "Hahnöver", the shore of some geographic entity
named "Hahn". So maybe "Hanskalv" should be "Hahnskalv" the smaller island
near the bigger island of "Hahn" (or the other way round "Hahnöferand"
should rather be "Hanöfersand").

There is no island "Hahn" or "Han", but maybe it was washed away by the Elbe
river (that happened all the time until the Elbe shores were fixed in the
20th century). All this about Hanskalbsand is pure speculation. I have no
etymological evidence. Could be total nonsense.

Marcus Buck

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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
 Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2010.03.17 (07) [EN]

No dictionary, but at least it gives the same explanation: Georg Christoph
Lichtenberg's vermischte Schriften, Band 8, p. 215f: "An dem Morgen, da es
so heftig wehete, fuhren wir auch an der berüchtigten Stelle vorbei, wo so
mancher ehrliche Matrose sein Leben gelassen hat. [..] Man nennt sie den
Kälbertanz, und eine Stelle in der Elbe, nicht weit von Glückstadt, wo das
Wasser in einer beständigen Bewegung sein soll, wo es aber gerade zu der
Zeit stille stand, als wir vorbeisegelten, hat davon den Namen erhalten."

Marcus Buck

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From: Diederik Masure <didimasure at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2010.03.17 (07) [EN]

*Johnny wrote: *
*I'm looking for the meaning of Norwegian words containing "Kalve-",
"Kalven-", "Kalv-" like in 'Loppekalven', 'Kalvesund' or 'Kalvsundet'
(Finmark). I don't think that this has anything to do with E 'calf, calves'
but could be an (archaic?) word for a special type of island.*

Nynorskordbok online gives:
  *kalv* m1 (norr *kalfr*)    *1* unge el. ungdyr av storfe og visse andre
jortarar *elgk-* / *gjøk-* / *kuk-* / *oksek-* / *kjøpe ein k-* / *drikke
som ein k-* / kalvekjøt *k- til middag* / om folk: dumming, kløne *ein k-
til å ro*    *2* mindre øy el. vatn ved sida av større; stykke av bre som
har kalva    *3* opning til el. del av teine og ruse, garnpose; buk i not
  *4* i trestamme: mjuk ved nærmast mergen; rivne kring el. i årring; i tau:
tynn line som kjerne
It's meaning 2 you're looking for, it says litterally "smaller island or
water next to bigger one(s?); piece of glacier that has broken off".
So the general idea seems to be "smaller piece next to a bigger entity", be
it a lake, an island, or a glacier.
I suppose in this meaning it's related to the Dutch verb "afkalven",
"geleidelijk afbrokkelen (m.n. van oevers)". Hard to translate this one to
English but it's something like "slow but steadily breaking down (of
(river)bank)".
I guess they thought the small islands surrounding a bigger one had
originally broken off the bigger one.

Diederik

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