LL-L "Etymology" 2002.05.08 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 08.MAY.2002 (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: Muriel Norde <muriel.norde at hum.uva.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2002.05.07 (03) [E]

At 13:41 7-5-2002 -0700, Niels Winther wrote:

>Muriel, as I see it, there are two contradictory meanings of the
>adjective
><slee> in Dutch and apparently in Low Saxon as well.
>
>1. loom, moe, stomp, bot: dull, slow, tardy, inert, dilatory, missing
>it's
>goal.
>
>2. wrang: astringent, making your teeth dry and making your mouth
>contract.

I am not sure if the two meanings are contradictory, but I find it hard
to
explain this using English adjectives. Another Dutch word for _slee_
would
be _stroef_ (which you can use referring to sour wine which makes your
mouth contract), i.e. difficult to swallow. If _stroef_, and hence its
synonym _slee_ (both in the 'taste' sense) are interpreted as
"difficult,
fatiguing" (the opposite of "smooth"), there is not such a big
difference
with the meaning "slow, blunt (e.g. a blunt knife)".

>  In short there is nothing dull, slow or
>dilatory about astringency.

I think there is if,as I argued above, _slee_ is taken to mean
"difficult
to swallow".

>As the sloeberry is the mother of all
>astringency, I see only this possible connection for the second meaning.

I do not agree. Not just because I think there IS a semantic link
between
"dull, blunt, slow etc." and "astringent", but also because, as far as I
can see, they have different origins (see my previous posting). I agree
with Ron Hahn who wrote that:

>slow < Old English _slâw_ 'sluggish'
>sloe < Old English _slâ(h)_ "ultimately from an Indo-European word
>        meaning "bluish," which is also the ancestor of English
>        _livid_ ..." (Encarta Dictionary)
>I really do not see how 'sluggish' and 'bluish' can be connected, unless
>_slâw_ is derived from _slâ(h)_, in which case the supposed morpheme
>_-w_ would need to be accounted for.

Best,
Muriel Norde

P.S. Sleedoorn syrup is sold at healthfood stores and supposed to be
very
healthy. Maybe I'll try it and see what adjective comes to mind (and
hence
if I am right about the semantics).
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
  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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