LL-L "Etymology" 2001.12.20 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 20.DEC.2001 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: AEDUIN at aol.com
Subject: LL-L "Resources" 2001.12.19 (05) [E]

In a message dated 19/12/01 22:42:21 GMT Standard Time, sassisch at yahoo.com
writes:

   The cornflowers (_bleuets_) in the corn field are to me the
   complementary

I thought bleuets were a species of fungi (spelt blewits in English?).

Edwin Deady

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From: Muriel Norde <muriel.norde at hum.uva.nl>
Subject: Etymology

Dear Lowlanders,

I am posting this query on behalf of my father, an avid bird-watcher who is
curious about the etymology of Dutch <malmok> 'seagull'. According to a
Shetlandic colleague of his (who could not find the reference), this word
is a folk etymology derivation of an Inuit word <malmuk>, which was
interpreted as <malle mok> 'silly seagull' (<mok> is a dialectal term for
seagull, besides standard Dutch <meeuw>). Confusingly, a Shetlandic term
for this particular bird is <maalie>.
Browsing through my etymological dictionaries, I have found that many names
for seagull are onomatopoeic in origin (e.g. Dutch <meeuw>, Swedish <mås>,
Norwegian <måke>), deriving from a Proto-Germanic root *Mai(h)wa- (with an
-s-suffix in Swedish and a -k-suffix in Norwegian). According to De Vries'
Dutch etymological dictionary however, <mok> refers to the thick-set shape
of the seagull. In that case Dutch <mok> would not be related to Norwegian
<måke>.

In sum, my questions are the following:

1: What are the Lowlandic names for seagull and how are they related? In
particular, I am interested in cognates of <mok> and <malmok>.
2: Does anyone have references to the alleged Inuit connection?

Thank you in advance,
Muriel Norde
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
  Muriel Norde
  Skandinavistiek, Universiteit van Amsterdam
  Spuistraat 134
  1012 VB Amsterdam
  The Netherlands
  tel.: +31 20 5252450
  fax.: +31 20 5254625
  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Edwin, I did not write what you quoted above.  Roger Thijs did.  My address
comes up when you simply hit the reply button and don't replace the
originator's address.

Muriel, as far as I know, expected *_Mall(e)mock_ for '(sea)gull' does not
seem to exist in Low Saxon (Low German), a close relative of Dutch.
'(Sea)gull' is _Meev'_ (~ _Meew_) [mE:Iv], _Meiv_ (~ _Meiw_) [ma:Iv] or
_Mööv'_ (~ _Mööw_) [m9:Iv], which is of course related to German _Möwe_, Dutch
_meeuw_, Westerlauwer Frisian _miuw_, English _mew_ (< _mæw_), Danish _måge_,
Norwegian _måke_, Icelandic _mávur_, etc., "deriving from a Proto-Germanic
root *Mai(h)wa-," as you noted.

_Mall_ (~ _mal_) [ma.l] is also used in Low Saxon to denote 'silly',
'ridiculous', etc., and there are derivations such as _mallerig_ ['ma.lerIC]
'silly', _mallen_ 'to behave in a silly way', 'to clown around', _Mallaap_
[ma.l(?)Q:p] ("silly ape/monkey" ~ _Maiaap_ ['ma.I(?)Q:p] "May ape/monkey")
'silly person', 'clown', 'fool', amd _Mallmöhl_ ['ma.lm9:l] ("silly mill")
'merry-go-round'.

I have done a bit of searching, and it appears that _malmok_ is derived from
_mollymauk_ which refers to albatrosses or albatross-like seabirds, including
most kinds of birds of the albatross branch (_Diomedeidae_), e.g., the
black-browed albatross (_Thalassarche melanophrys_, _Diomedea melanophrys_).
However, I do not know what the actual origin of the name _mollymauk_ is, and
I would not be too surprised if it started off as an Inuqtitut loan (_malmuk_,
etc.).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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