LL-L "Etymology" 2002.12.05 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 05.DEC.2002 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Theo Homan theohoman at yahoo.com
Subject: Etymology

Could you tell me something about Dutch 'pink'?

There has been some interesting talking now about
'celtic' counting in english dialects.
This brings me to Dutch 'pink'; one of my old
favourites.

Here we go:
Dutch 'pink' means 'little finger'.
Origin of this word is not known [to me, that is].

But always I liked to understand this word 'pink' as
the 'fifth finger'.
[Here you have it connected with the counting-talks.]

But:
understanding 'pink' als '5th finger',  means that I
like to see it as an Indo-European word, meaning 'the
fifth'.
The final  '-ink'  may be linked to Indo-European.
The initial  'p-' may be be linked to Indo-European.
But combining P with INK [as a Germanic construction]
is a trick I am not able to do.

Is 'pink' an I-E fossile?
Or is 'pink' a fossile of a language very much in the
neighbourhood of Old-Germanic, eg. of the language of
the Kaninefates / Canninefates [Kennemers]? And this
is just saying that the language of these Canninefates
was not real Germanic, shame on me!

OK, let us deal with substrates: I like making
theories about substrates, but working with substrates
in practise always turns out to be a mess.
Who helps me out?

And: what is the first evidence of 'pink' in Dutch or
Franconian?

All questions, but no answers, unless you ...

vr.gr.
Theo Homan

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