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L O W L A N D S - L - 14 August 2008 - Volume 02<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>>
<br>
Subject: Etymology<br>
<br>
Heather, you wrote:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 30pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">I came across a new word this morning which was 'snob' used to
mean a cobbler / shoemaker.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 30pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 30pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">I had never heard it before used like this. Does it have any
Lowland connotations??</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">That <i>is</i> very interesting, isn't it?<br>
<br>
I checked the supersize <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> which considers the
origin obscure. However, what is interesting there is that "snob" in
the better-known sense ("One who despises those who are considered
inferior in rank, attainment, or taste") is actually related to it and in
fact derived from it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Another thing that's interesting is that "snob" in
the apparently earliest sense of "cobbler" can be attested only as
far back as the second half of the 18th century. It is flagged as dialectical,
colloquial or slang by origin. This should prompt us to err on the side of
allowing for this word to have been used in certain dialects in spoken form
earlier, perhaps even much earlier, because occurrence in literature says
little about the age of a word.<br>
<br>
I can think of no Lowlands connection, but the words has a Scandinavian ring to
it, as does "snub", which <i>is</i> of Scandinavian origin. If
"snob" is indeed of Scandinavian origin it may be quite old in
English of course. But I can't find anything in Old Norse that may
qualify as the origin of "snob".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
What if it started as an acronym or as the last name of a notorious cobbler?
;-)<br>
<br>
Anyway, the semantic journey appears to be as follows:<br>
<br>
SNOB<br>
<br>
(1) cobbler, shoemaker; cobbler's apprentice (1781)<br>
\<br>
anyone not a gownsman; <br>
a townsman (Cambridge, 1796)<br>
|<br>
(2) person belonging to ordinary or lower classes of society; <br>
one having no pretensions to rank or gentility (1831)<br>
|<br>
(3) one who has little or no breeding or good taste; vulgar or ostentatious
person (1838)<br>
|<br>
(4) one who meanly or vulgarly admires and seeks to imitate, or associate with,
those of superior rank or wealth; <br>
one who wishes to be regarded as a person of social importance (1848)<br>
|<br>
(5) one who despises those who are considered inferior in rank, attainment, or
taste (1911)<br>
<br>
Probably derived from (2) is "snob" in the New Zealand and Australian
sense of "last sheep to be sheared", "roughest or most difficult
sheep to shear". Interestingly, this can also be covered by the word
"cobbler". So the connection between "snob" and
"cobbler" is intact in this shearer's jargon. "Snob" in
this sense occurs in writing as recently as 1945.<br>
<br>I have this sneaking suspicion that "snob" in the modern sense is either strongly influenced by or directly derived from "snob" used in the mentioned Cambridge University jargon, where students looked down upon ordinary townspeople of Cambridge, where even the greenest freshman, who was a "snob" himself just recently, thought he was way above ordinary folk -- a "label turned around", so to speak.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron<br>
<br>
----------<br>
<br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Marcel Bas</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:marcelbas@gmail.com">marcelbas@gmail.com</a>></span> <br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Etymology" 2008.08.14 (01) [E]</span><br style="">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Hallo Reinhard,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Je schreef:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">"According
to Pokorny, <i>ac</i> etc. goes back to Indo-European *<i>aĝ-</i> 'to move',
'to swing', 'to drive', 'to lead'. Sounds weird, doesn't it? What is supposed
to be the semantic connection?"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">I'm not sure.
But consider an analogous development:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">The
Indo-European root *eug- which soon became *aug-. Its definition is 'to
increase'. You can find it in a verb like 'augment', but also in
words like 'auxiliary' and Germanic cognates such as D. <em><span style="font-family: Arial;">ook</span></em>, G. <em><span style="font-family: Arial;">auch, </span></em>F. <em><span style="font-family: Arial;">ek</span></em> and
E. <em><span style="font-family: Arial;">eke, </span></em>'also' (hence the
verb <em><span style="font-family: Arial;">to eke</span></em>). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Best
regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Marcel.</span></p>
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