<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L  -  25 July 2007 - Volume 05</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">=========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
Subject: Etymology</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Elaine and other Lowlanders,</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I am beginning to wonder if, instead of eastward, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">fiets(e)</span>
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> for 'bicycle' spread </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">west</span><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">ward, namely from Northwestern Germany to the Netherlands.  This may sound audacious at first, but there are phonological reasons for this:
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Let's assume that the origin is French </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
vélocipède</span><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">. This became <span style="font-style: italic;">Velociped </span>in German, pronounced [velotsi'pe:t]. Low Saxon of Germany typically borrows neologisms from German. If this word was introduced into the relevant dialects, it would have undergone predictable phonological adaptation to [felotsi'pe:(t)] (as in German 
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">V</span>ioline</span> [vio'li:n@] > Low Saxon <span style="font-style: italic;">Vigelien</span> [fige'li:n] 'violine'). Indeed, it is 
<span style="font-style: italic;">Velozipee</span> [felotsi'pe:] in some dialects.<br><br>To some up:<br></span><ul style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-style: italic;">c</span> is pronounced [ts]
</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">v-</span> is pronounced [f]</li></ul><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">I think it is harder to imagine </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
fiets</span><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> [<span style="font-weight: bold;">f<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>i(:)<span style="font-weight: bold;">ts</span>] to be a contraction from [</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">V</span><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">elo</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">s</span><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
i'pe:] (Dutch) than from [<span style="font-weight: bold;">f</span>elo<span style="font-weight: bold;">ts</span>i'pe:] (Low Saxon).<br><br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br><br></span>