LL-L: "Names" LOWLANDS-L, 21.APR.2000 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

 ======================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 21.APR.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 Archive: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html>
 =======================================================================
 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
 =======================================================================

From: Stephen Israel [sisrael+ at pitt.edu]
Subject: "Names" LOWLANDS-L, 20.APR.2000

Mike Adams wrote:
>
> I can see it, I love how some names are converted as they change from
> countr y to country. Excample I know of is the "WulF" family, which when
> it was translated to French or Italian it became Guelph..

Gu was the closest French and Italian speakers could come to _w_ (back
before it became [v] in the mid-Middle Ages), so you get that in lots of
old names and words:  ward/guard,  warranty/guarantee, war/guerre (related
to German wirr, meaning chaotic).  When French subsequently vocalized _l_
in some positions, that led the name Wilhelm to be Guillaume [giyom] and
Walt-her/Walter to be Gautier.  As "guard" etc. shows, these Germanic words
have sometimes been borrowed back into Germanic languages.

Stefan Israel
sisrael at imap.pitt.edu

[Deutsch]:  Italiener und Franzosen haben [w] nicht aussprechen koennen,
wohl aber _gu_, also sind viele germanische Woerter so umgeaendert worden
(erst spaeter im Mittelalter ist [w] [v] geworden).  Da gibt es also in der
Tat viele verwandte Woerter mit gu-w: ward/guard 'schuetzen',
warranty/guarantee, war/guerre 'Krieg' (verwandt mit _wirr_).
Franzoesisch hat dazu _l_ unter gewissen Umstaenden vokalisiert, also wurde
aus Wilhelm Guillaume [gijom] and Walt-her/Walter Gautier [goti-e].

==================================END===================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 =======================================================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
   to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 =======================================================================