Latin mecum, tecum, etc.

[Eduard Selleslagh]

----- Original Message -----
From: "petegray" <petegray at btinternet.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 4:31 PM

>> "whereof," "whereas" and "therefore."
>>  Are these imitations or calques on Latin forms?

[snip]

>     Preposition + [some case of "it"]  --> da (= "there") + preposition

>     Preposition + [some case of "which"]  --> wo (= "where") + preposition

> In both cases haitus between vowels is avoided by inserting "r".

[snip]

>         on it  (auf)      =  darauf  = da-r-auf  = thereon

[snip]

>     on which  =  worauf  = wo-r-auf  = whereon.

> Peter

[Ed Selleslagh]

I have my doubts about the -r- as hiatus filling: in Dutch, the -r is always
present, just like in English..

Ger. wo = Du. waar
Ger. da = Du. daar

So, I think it is the absence of -r- in German that requires an explanation.

Ed.