Fwd: -ckx consonant cluster?

[Wilson Gray]

Here and in Germany, there's a company named "Merck." So, here go my
WAG. If there's a name, _Merck_, then we can reasonably assume that
the name, _Merckx_, can be parsed as

[[Merck]x]]

As has been noted below, some Dutch names end in -sz, which is known
to have originated as the abbreviation for the older patronymic,
_[Namen]szoon_ "[Names]'s son." Cf., e.g. "Rembrandt _Harmenszoon_ van
Rijn": "Rembrandt Harmen's Son van Rijn," i.e., "Rembrandt Son of
Herman van Rijn. I assume that, at one time, "Merckx" was once
"Merckszoon," eventually clipped to "Mercksz." Then, by some trick of
handwriting, such as that which led to the spelling of the -s Plural
in certain French words as -x,  -sz after -ck came to be written as
-x, perhaps under the influence of French spelling via Walloon.

-Wilson


On Nov 27, 2007 12:05 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fwd: -ckx consonant cluster?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2007 at 12:01:03PM -0500, Grant Barrett wrote:
> > This query is related to our discussion of "moist" and other
> > repulsive words. Please reply to the list AND the original sender
> > shown below.
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > >From: "Christopher Landis Shively" <chrissypants at gmail.com>
> > >Date: November 8, 2007 14:15:13 EST
> > >Subject: -ckx consonant cluster?
> > >
> > >Hi there. First off, big fan of the blog.
> > >Second, do you know anything about the consonant cluster -ckx in
> > >Flemish/Waloon/Brusselois? It seems to be common in surnames and the
> > >like (such as Flemish musician Marc Ickx)
>
> Since this isn't relevant to his query, but is just an
> observation: _this_ is the example he gives? Isn't the cyclist
> Eddy Merckx vastly more well known than this musician? Or am I
> just contaminated?
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org