LL-L "Etymology" 2012.02.29 (01) [EN]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 29 February 2012 - Volume 01
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Dear Lowlanders,

In Dutch, the most basic adverbs expressing the idea of "why" are *waarom*and
*hoezo* (= "how so"), while in Afrikaans they are *waarom* and *hoekom* (=
"how come"). Do competent speakers perceive them as being semantically
different?

Am I correct in assuming that Afrikaans *hoekom* is a calque (i.e. loan
translation from English?

Low Saxon of Germany has *waarüm* ~ *worüm* [vo(ʊ̯)ˈrʏˑm],
*woso*[vo(ʊ̯)ˈzoʊ̯] (=
"how so"), *woför* [vo(ʊ̯)ˈfœɐ] (= "what for"?), and *waarvon ~ wovon *~ *wovun
*[vo(ʊ̯)ˈfɔˑn] ~ [vo(ʊ̯)ˈfʊˑn] (= "what from").

It seems that words for "why" used to distinguish between at least the
following ideas:


   - "as a result of what (past) cause" (past)
   - "for what reason" (present-future)
   - "for what purpose/benefit" (future)


As semantic awareness of the differences disappeared, generally applicable
ones came into more common use (e.g. English "why").

For example, default "why" in the following languages seem to have
originally conveyed the sense of "for what (purpose/benefit"): Yiddish
פֿֿארװאָס (*farvos*), Catalan *per què*, Castilian *por qué*, Portuguese *por
que*, French *pourquoi*, Italian *perché*, Hebrew לַמָה (*lamāh*), Arabic *limā
*~* **limā**đā *~* lima* (لِمَا . لِمَاذَا . لِمَ).

Any thoughts or insight, anyone?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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