LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 08.SEP.2000 (09) [E]

Lowlands-L sassisch at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 8 20:22:45 UTC 2000


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 L O W L A N D S - L * 08.SEP.2000 (09) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Niels Winther [niels.winther at dfds.dk]
Subject: Etymology

Ron wrote:
  I was very interested to find the Scots verb _wale_ 'to choose', 'to elect'.
  (I assume it is pronounced [we:l].)  It appears to be a cognate of German
and
  Low Saxon _wählen_  'to choose', 'to elect' (the noun 'election' or 'choice'
  being _Wahl_).
  I am not sure if Low Saxon _wä(h)len_ [ve:ln] and _Waal_ ~ _Wahl_ [vQ:l] are
  inherent or German loans.  Does anyone know?  They coexist with _kören_
  [kø:An] and _Köör_ [kø:A] with the same respective meanings.
  Is _wale_ inherently Scots, i.e., is there an Old English ancestral word?
  Modern English does not seem to have a cognate.  Or does it?  A loan from
  Dutch?  I don't find cognates in Modern Dutch and Afrikaans.  Or are there
  any?  A Saxonism?  A Low Saxon loanword (Hanseatic connection)?
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Wale seems to be known from ME  (ShorterOxford).
OldSaxon had _wellian_  ; OldNorse had _velja_ ;
Danish:_vælge_ ; Norwegian:_velge_ ; Swedish:_väljä_;
it seems to be a common germanic word.

rgds
niels

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