zitful

[Chris F. Waigl]

On Sun, 2006-08-06 at 07:52 -0700, Dave Wilton wrote:
> But the older cite from "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" can't be making reference to
> pimples. That book was written in 1943 and is set in the early years of the
> 20th century. I didn't think zit = pimple was nearly that old.
>
> Doug Wilson suggested in a reply on my site's forum that it is from the German
> "zipfelkappe," or a knit cap with a pointed end, often with a tassel
> (literally, pointed or cornered cap). That seems much more likely to me.

Looks convincing to me, esp. if the "cap" part is translated from German
"Mütze". I wouldn't say "Zipfelkappe", but "Zipfelmütze" is very much
part of my lexicon. Images here
http://images.google.com/images?q=zipfelm%C3%BCtze .

Note that the second syllable of "Zipfel" doen't have a vowel in many
German dialects, but a syllabic l instead. So the transcription as
zipful (or even zitful) isn't actually bad at all.

Chris Waigl

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