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

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 21.SEP.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Edwin Michael Alexander [edsells at idirect.com]
Subject: LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 20.SEP.2000 (04) [E/LS]

At 05:10 PM 09/20/00 -0700, Sandy wrote:

>The word "nim" does exist in modern English - it's a mathematically
>interesting game in which two players divide a number of objects
>into groups at random and then take turns to remove any number of
>objects from any one pile. The player to take the last object
>loses (and a player who knows the mathematical secret of the game
>can always win against one who doesn't).

Fabulous.  I haven't heard of the game much since I learned it from a
hereditary chief from Maine who used to travel about in the first half of
this century on the Vaudeville circuit.  To pass the time, he and a friend
would go into a beer garden wherever they were and play this game and "win"
drinks from each other until a "mark" came by.  "No matter how much money
he had, it was never enough," Joe used to say.

>I suspect that the name of the game, "nim", refers to the action
>of taking or seizing the objects from the piles.

The use of the word nim here also seems to retain the sense of the Latin
and Greek cognates, namely to distribute or allot something.

Regarding "blackguard" I always imagined that it applied to the roguish
character of members of the Black Guard.  However, this appears to have
been mere fantasy, and a connection with the scullery is more likely.
Ed Alexander
JAG REALTY INC.
80 Jones Street Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8R 1Y1
Pager: 905-545-0177  Fax: 905-525-6671 Email: edsells at idirect.com
Jag Realty Inc.: http://www.deerhurst.com/jag/
Ontario Ultra Series:  http://ous.kw.net/
Burlington Runners Club: http://www.deerhurst.com/brc/

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From: david strommen [si00924 at navix.net]
Subject: LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 19.SEP.2000 (02) [E/F]

Dear Henno,
By _uurs_ meaning Springtime do you mean the Scandinavian word vår or forår
(foraar)?

Lowlands-L wrote:
Similar things have happened with some words in North Frisian as well
(the have had contact with the Jutes since their first settlement),
like _uurs_ = springtime (also Old-Germanic, but now Scandinavian and
North Frisian only).

Also, concerning the words for child. Thanks for the info on "Barn" "Bairn",
of course it would be connedted to the verb "to bear".  Where does the English
word child come from?

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