LL-L: "Etymology" LOWLANDS-L, 22.JAN.2001 (04) [E]

Tue Jan 23 04:31:23 UTC 2001

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 22.JAN.2001 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Stefan Israel [stefansfeder at yahoo.com]
Subject: "Etymology"

> (2) English "pea(-cock, -hen, -fowl)"
> "Pea-" in this word group is assumed to come from Latin _pâvô_
>  > Old English _pêa_ > Middle English _pe(-cock)_; cf. Scots
> _pey(-cock).  Old Icelandic _pâi_ is assumed to be an Old
> English loan (_Herkunftsduden_), but I have a problem
> believing _pêa_ > _pâi_.  (I assume that Modern
> Icelandic _páfugl_ comes from Danish _påfugl_

Old English had both _pa^wa_ (I'm using ^ to indicate vowel
length), from Latin _pa^vo^_, as well as _pea_ (as if from Latin
*pauo^, so the Icelandic can readily be from the first variant.
I just looked up _páfugl_: it was already in use in Iceland by
the 1200's, according to Cleasby-Vigfusson.

> The _Duden_ people assume that the ultimate source of
> the European derivations is Greek _taô's_.  Greek /t-/ > Latin
> /p-/?!

I am
> intrigued by the Low Saxon (Low German) form _Pageluun_
> [pQ:ge'lu:n].  Why
> is there a /-g-/ instead of an expected /-v-/?  I am familiar
> with v <> g
> shifts in Altaic (especially in Turkic and Mongolic), not in
> Germanic.

Wait-  the -w- in _pawe_ might verschärfen into -g-: some Platt
dialects do that: Paul/Powel > Pagel, Claus/Klawes > Klages etc.
 Does anyone have an exact description of when those dialects
turned -w- into -g-?  I -think- _pawe_ would qualify.
You'd then get *_Pagge_ (or _Page_?).

> then there is the _-luun_ part.  How might it have been
> derived?  I thought of the word for 'chicken' as a possible
> source (*_pagel-huun_), but the Low Saxon word for 'chicken'
> is _Hoon_ ~ _Hohn_ [ho.Un].

Do any of the dialects that turn -w- to -g- also raise [o:] to
[u:], _Hoon_ to _Huun_?  But that wouldn't explain the -l-.
Hm! Unless *_Pagge_ became confused with Paul/Pagel, leading to
some folk etymology of this exotic bird being St. Paul's hen.
That's tenuous, but no stranger than some words' history.

Stefan

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Etymology

Dear Lowlanders,

I wrote:

> (1) English "pea-jacket"
> According to the _Concise Oxford Dictionary_, this word, denoting a
> sailor's short double-breasted overcoat of coarse woolen cloth, is
believed
> to be a loan from (Modern?) Dutch, namely derived from _pijjekker_.  The
> _COD_ mentions Dutch _pij_ as meaning _coat of coarse cloth_.  My Dutch
> dictionaries give the meaning of _pij_ as 'cowl' and that of Afrikaans
_py_
> as 'cowl' or 'gown'.  In Modern Low Saxon (Low German) we have _Piejack_
> ['p`i:jak].  It denotes a type of shirt made from thick, coarse linen,
> typically striped blue and white/natural.  It tends to have buttoning
from
> the neckline no farther down than to the middle of the chest, and the
upper
> and lower parts tend to have contrasting patterns: the stripes running
> horizontally in one and vertically in the other.  (I have seen
traditional
> Dutch and Frisian garments that look similar.)  The _Piejack_ used to be
> the traditional work shirt of North German men, especially of fishermen
and
> sailors.  In recent decades it has made a bit of a comeback in Northern
> Germany, especially in coastal areas, both as a tourist souvenir and as a

> "North-Germanness" symbol, typically worn by male Low Saxon (Low German)
> performers, often complete with an _Elvsailer_/_Elbsegler_, a cap that
> resembles a Greek fishermen's hat.  In the olden days, this outfit would
be
> completed by plain black or navy pants and wooden clogs or slippers with
> leather uppers and wooden soles (_holten/hulten Tüffeln_, _Holschen_,
> _Klunschen_, _Klotschen_, _Klotzen_, etc.).

Not to forget _Klompen_ ~ _Klumpen_, cognate of Dutch _klompen_, for the
shoes made entirely out of wood.

> In Low Saxon (Low German),
> _Pie_ [p`i:] (~ _Pee_ [p`EI]  ~ _Pei_ [p`aI]) alone denotes any wide top
> garment made from coarse linen, typically a short work coat or a
> traditional-style children's coat.  Does any of you know more about the
> etymology of this?  Is it more likely that English _pea-jacket_ comes
from
> Dutch (from a variety that has not undergone diphthongization of /ii/) or

> from Low Saxon?

I should have asked another, simple question:
What is the etymology of _pie_, _pij_ (> English _pea_)?

> (2) English "pea(-cock, -hen, -fowl)"
> "Pea-" in this word group is assumed to come from Latin _pâvô_ > Old
> English _pêa_ > Middle English _pe(-cock)_; cf. Scots _pey(-cock).  Old
> Icelandic _pâi_ is assumed to be an Old English loan (_Herkunftsduden_),
> but I have a problem believing _pêa_ > _pâi_.  (I assume that Modern
> Icelandic _páfugl_ comes from Danish _påfugl_ "_på_ bird".)  German
_Pfau_
> comes from Middle High German _pfâ(we)_ and Old High German _pfâwo_ (also

> varieties, e.g.,_Pau_, _Paw(e)_ in some transitional dialects, Yiddish
_pave_).

Sorry I forgot to mention Dutch _pauw_ and Afrikaans _pou_.

> I am
> intrigued by the Low Saxon (Low German) form _Pageluun_ [pQ:ge'lu:n].
Why
> is there a /-g-/ instead of an expected /-v-/?  I am familiar with v <> g

> shifts in Altaic (especially in Turkic and Mongolic), not in Germanic.
And
> then there is the _-luun_ part.  How might it have been derived?  I
thought
> of the word for 'chicken' as a possible source (*_pagel-huun_), but the
Low
> Saxon word for 'chicken' is _Hoon_ ~ _Hohn_ [ho.Un].  Note that Russian
has
> _pavlín_ rather than just *_pav_.  Something strange and interesting is
> going on here.  Can any of you help?

Stefan wrote:

> Do any of the dialects that turn -w- to -g- also raise [o:] to
> [u:], _Hoon_ to _Huun_?  But that wouldn't explain the -l-.
> Hm! Unless *_Pagge_ became confused with Paul/Pagel, leading to
> some folk etymology of this exotic bird being St. Paul's hen.
> That's tenuous, but no stranger than some words' history.

Thanks, Stefan.

This is not a matter of [o:] but of the diphthong /ou/; i.e., the
underlying representation of what is (unfortunately) written as _Hoon_ or
_Hohn_ is really /houn/, usually realized as [ho.Un].  The plural is
_Hö(h)ner_ ~ _Heu(h)ner_, underlyingly /höiner/, phonetically ['h9In3] or
['hOIn3], depending on the dialect.   So we have diphthongs here, not long
vowels.  As far as I know, some dialects, such as the Lower Elbe ones, do
raise mid-diphthongs, but they only do so before /-r/.  Thus, /ou/ is
raised to [u:] only in cases like /fourts/ _foorts_ [foU3ts] 'immediately'
> [fu:3ts], usually written _fuurts_.  Likewise, /ei/ is raised to [i:]
(e.g., /deirn/ _Deern_ [dE.I3n] > [di:3n] _Diern_ 'girl'), and /öi/ is
raised to [y:] (e.g., /höir/ _höör!_ [h9.I3] > [hy:3] _hüür!_ 'hear!') --
only before /r/.  I know that in Henry's Twente dialect monophthong long or
lengthened /ö/ is raised to [y], but apparently also only before /-r/,
hence /fö(ö)r/ > [fy(:)3] 'for'.  Or did I get that wrong, Henry?  Stefan,
are you aware of dialects that raise in this manner without following /r/?

Besides, /houn/ 'chicken' has neuter gender, while /paageluun/ (not
*/pageluun/ *_Paggeluun_) 'peacock' has masculine gender.  The plural is
_Pagelunen_.

Hold the press!  I just discovered some other Low Saxon (Low German) forms:
_Pagelunenvagel_ (not much of a surprise here), and ... hold on to your
seat! ... _Paveluun_ (pl. _Pavelunen_) and _Pauluun_ (pl. _Paulunen_)!  I
do not know which dialects they belong to.  So, important is that we do
have alternation between /-v-/ and /-g-/ within the same language.

As for the /-luun/ part, it would be interesting to find out the etymology
of Russian _pavlín_, for this _...lín_ may be relevant here, as may be the
Low Saxon (Low German) propensity for vowel rounding with or without labial
environment -- whether there is a Low-Saxon-Russian connection or not.*

* The possiblity of such a connection ought not be discounted.  There have
been plenty of such direct contacts, especially when Germanic speakers
flooded into Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.  In fact, one of the
earlier extant language guide books is in Low Saxon and Russian, I believe
Russian for Low-Saxon-speaking travelers in the 16th century.  I forgot the
title, but I know we have a copy in our library.  The Russian feminine
derivative morpheme from profession names _-sha_ is usually attributed to
Low Saxon _-sche_ (> _-sch_), e.g., _Möller_ '(male) miller' >
_Möllersch(e)_ 'miller's wife', 'female miller', _Naver_ ~ _Naber_
'neighbor' > _Naversch(e)_ ~ _Nabersch(e)_ '(female) neighbor', 'neighbor's
wife', 'woman nextdoor'.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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