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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 03 October 2008 - Volume 04<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: <span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Brooks, Mark</span> <<a href="mailto:mark.brooks@twc.state.tx.us">mark.brooks@twc.state.tx.us</a>><br>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2008.10.03 (02) [E]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Ron asked: "do English speakers think of
cushions and pillows as incomparable items?"</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">This English speaker thinks of cushions and
pillows as separate things. Ironically, I could call the thing one sits
on and rests one's back against on a couch a cushion. But, the "loose"
items on the same couch I would call a pillow. To me one sleeps with
one's head on a pillow, but sits on or bumps up against a cushion, even though
I often use a "pillow" to prop up my knees when I lay down (please, don't get
me started on "lie" as opposed "lay").</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Yes, a petal differs from a leaf, to me at
least. To put it oversimply, the petal on a flower has "color" while the
"leaf" stays green. I refer here to the most common of instances.
Of course, we can find exceptions to that, but generally the differences would
follow that pattern.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Mark Brooks</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">----------<br>
<br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>>
<br>
Subject: Lexicon<br>
<br>
Thanks a lot, Mark. All this tallies pretty much with my "English perception", most of which I acquired
after childhood. In other words, this is how I think in English. But</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> it's quite different</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> when
I think in Low Saxon or German.<br>
<br>
Obviously, this thread combines "Lexicon" and "Semantics". Let's leave it with
"Lexicon" because to me "Semantics" is included in "Lexicon". This
thread also touches on "Etymology". Sometimes I just have to choose what seems
to be the umbrella category.<br>
<br>
Mark, thanks for mention the "petal", "leaf" and "blade" complex again. My
mention of "blade" as a cognate of <i>blad</i> (<i>Blatt</i>) 'leaf', 'petal',
triggered some afterthoughts.<br>
<br>
The example of the semantic range of English "blade" reminds me that also
without "foreign intervention" a language may well invent, or rather derive, new non-compounded
words. This seems to have happened in the case of German <i>Klinge</i> from
Middle German <i>klinge</i> 'blade (of a knife or sword)' which appears to be
derived from the root of the verb <i>klingen</i> 'to sound', related to the
noun <i>Klang</i> '(metallic) sound', related to English "clang". So it is not
the shape but the sound (of clashing, clanging blades) that determined an
apparently new word here. This is opposed to English "blade (of a knife or
sword)" which denotes the same but is visually determined, referring to the long,
flat pointed shape. Old English <i>blæd</i> has the same semantic range as
modern "blade", as has Old Norse <i>blað</i>. German <i>Halm</i> (cf. OE <i>healm</i>)
'blade (of grass)' is not associated with a knife or sword blade, nor is the Low
Saxon equivalent <i>spyr</i> (<i>Spier</i>, cf. OE <i>spīr</i>), which may be related
to "spear" and "spire", thus suggesting a visually based extension.<br>
<br>
By the way, one of the Low Saxon words for 'blade (of a knife or sword)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">'</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> is <i>kling</i>
(<i>Kling</i>) which I suspect of being a German loan. Perhaps older is Low Saxon <i>lemmel</i>
(<i>Lemmel</i>) for the same thing. I don't know about its etymology. It seems like
a diminutive form of *<i>lem(b)</i> or *<i>lam(b)</i>. Or does it come from <i>lamella</i>?<br>
<br>
Lastly, there is Old German and Old Low Franconian <i>skār</i> for 'blade (of a
knife or sword)', related to Old English <i>scéar</i>, Old Frisian <i>skēre</i>,
Old Norse <i>skæri</i>, Modern German <i>Schere</i> 'scissor(s)', 'shear', perhaps
also to Old English <i>scear</i>, Modern German <i>Schar</i> '(plow)share'. All
of them are related to a large complex of words conveying ideas of 'cut' (cf. Latin
*<i>sek-r-</i>).<br>
<br>
This thread seems to be mushrooming already ...<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
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