PIE e/o Ablaut

[Stanley Friesen]

At 02:50 PM 3/16/00 -0500, Brian M. Scott wrote:

>> [The name 'Stanley' derives from OE 'stanlig' or 'stanlice'].

>Eh?  Surely it's a transferred locative surname, from OE
><sta:n-le:ah> (or its dat. sing.).

Possibly.  I was just going by what I had been told the name meant, from
name books.
[Stony Wood is certainly a reasonable source also].

>   There's no shortage of
>compound place-names in which OE <sta:n-> has become PDE
><Stan-> /st&n-/; I take it that these are the result of
>early ME shortening of the vowel before consonant groups.

Either way, this is the cause of the difference.  The name clearly contains
a shortened vowel, whatever its source.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com