LL-L "Etymology" 2003.03.01 (09) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Gary Taylor <gary_taylor_98 at yahoo.com>
Subject:  Etymology

Hi Gabriele and all

you mention 'ab' as the German word for down - yeah I
didn't think to mention that! However I've just looked
in my etymological dictionary and found that 'ab' is
related to English 'off' and 'of' and probably had the
original meaning of 'away from something' in Germanic,
so also not having the meaning of 'down'. I think
probably the 'nieder' or 'nether/(be)neath' is a
better candidate for an original Germanic word for
'down', although I have more of a feeling that this is
more closely linked to 'low' than 'up' is linked to
'high'.

'Del' and 'dahl' were also mentioned as being related
to 'dal(e)'. This also seems like a change in meaning
from the original.

I'm still not happy with a nice Germanic word for
'down' as opposed to 'up'. Maybe the Germanic peoples
were always too happy to consider a word for 'down' as
it was too pessimistic :)

Gary

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