LL-L "Etymology" 2002.06.30 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 30.JUN.2002 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: "Leslie Decker" <leslie at volny.cz>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2002.06.29 (02) [E]

On a slightly tangential note, does anyone know the basis for the
Russian
'brjuki' meaning 'trousers?'  It seems to me to have come from a
Germanic
source (Dutch 'broek' English 'breeches, britches').  Maybe from
sailors?
The 'i' is just a plural ending.

Thanks,

Leslie Decker

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From: Criostoir O Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2002.06.29 (02) [E]

A chairde,

Re: all this discussion of "rugg" versus "back" - a
very common dog breed in Australia (indeed, my next
door neighbour has one) is a "ridge back" (because it
has an extra "back" (ridge) of fur atop its back),
thereby bringing both lexical variants together and
illustrating the way they are used in standard English
at least.

Interesting how such things evolve.

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Chris.

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

Hi, Leslie!  Nice to hear from you (above).

Too bad I don't have access to Mueller's Russian dictionary right now,
because it tends to give fairly good etymological information.

Off the top of my head, my first guess was that Russian _brjuki_
'trousers' (plural form only, theoretically from *_brjuk_) is a Dutch
loan (< _broek_), possibly from the time of Tzar Pjotr I ("Peter the
Great," 1672-1725) who tried to turn Mother Russia into a Western lady
and championed things Dutch (where "Western" equaled "Dutch" for some
time, as it did in Indonesia and Japan).  Phonologically and
historically speaking, this would make sense, kind of ...

Modern English _breeches_ ~ _britches_ comes from Old English (*_brööke_
*_breeke_ *_breec(h)e_ >) _brêc_, the umlauted plural form of _brôc_
(thus is, technically speaking, a double plural form, Old + Modern).
The singular form was still used in Middle English.  The Old Saxon
cognate is _brôk_ (probably pronounced like or similar to OE _brôc_).  I
am not aware of this word surviving in Modern Lowlands Saxon, the direct
descendant of Old Saxon.  If it existed, I would expect *_Brook_
*[bro.Uk] ~ *_Brauk_ *[bra.Uk], with the plural forms *_Bröök_ *[br9.Ik]
~ *_Bräuk_ [brO.Ik] (< */brouke/).  I am not sure about this word's
survival in Middle (Lowlands) Saxon either.  If it survived, the plural
form would probably be *_broke_ ~ *_bröke_ (= */brouke/ ~ /bröüke/) at a
time when umlauting was beginning to be shown orthographically.  Old
(High) German has _bruoh_ which I would expect to be _Bruch_, pl.
_Brüche_, if it survived.  (Modern Lowlands Saxon and Standard German do
have such words, but they denote something different: 'low-lying, marshy
land (along) a brook or another type of watercourse)' (related to
'break'?)

This group of words (including Old Norse _brók_) is supposed to go back
to Germanic *_brôks_ (= */brook+s/, or */brouk+s/?, consider Modern
Icelandic _brók_ [broUk] 'underpants').

As you may know, the medieval Hanseatic Trading League that dominated
the Baltic Sea and had contacts with Russia, had Middle Saxon as its
lingua franca.  It is therefore not entirely inconceivable that Russian
borrowed the umlauted plural form of the Saxon word at that time, which
might explain _brjuki_ rather than (Dutch _broek_ >) *_bruki_.  However,
this is merely a guess to be considered.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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