LL-L "Etymology" 2003.03.02 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 02.MAR.2003 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 http://www.lowlands-l.net  * admin at lowlands-l.net * Encoding: Unicode UTF-8
 Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.htm
 Posting Address: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
 Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
 Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
=======================================================================
 You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
 To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
 text from the same account to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or
 sign off at <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
=======================================================================
 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
 S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================

From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject:   LL-L "Etymology" 2003.03.01 (07) [E]

Ron wrote:

> I didn't know the German word either, and I too guessed _Karacke_ or
> _Karracke_ when I started reading your post.
>
> You lucked out, because you had a good guess.  Well, Gabriele, does this
> mean that years "listening" to etymological reasoning on Lowlands-L are
> paying off, or are you unwilling to share the glory?

Actually, I'm afraid I cannot give you the credit because I have always
employed that trick, even as a child; between German, English and Lower
Saxon, I learned to take good guesses. Later, when I was 23 and starting to
learn Dutch, that was an easy way for me to fill in unknown words in
conversation. Not always very successfully, though... I remember the time I
tried to tell my Dutch boyfriend that I was off to the loo... which is "Klo"
in German... so I told him "Ik ga even naar't klootje". That earned me a
VERY strange look, since that's part of the male anatomy... one of a pair.
Oh well.

Over the last few years, Google has become my most important translation
tool of all, more useful than any dictionary could ever be. I don't really
need to look up "regular" words for their meaning (at least not in English),
but there's this huge twilight zone of variant spellings (the 'judgment'
thing, for instance), applicability of phrases, and specialised technical
terms, for instance. All you need is a good guess, and Google (or any other
decent search engine) will answer any questions you may possibly have.

Of course, one still needs to double-check, because I just got 380,000 hits
for the word "wierd" (ouch!) and 604,000 for "recieve" (oucher!), and a
whopping 605,000 for "definately" (ouchest!).

"To google" or "googeln" has become a verb in our household, and probably
elsewhere, too. Who knows, in a few hundred years from now, when that
particular search engine is long forgotten, folks on Lowlands (which Our Ron
will somehow manage to still run) will have heated discussions as to whether
that particular word for "to do quick research" was derived from the German
word "Gugel" for a certain medieval type of  headgear, or not - or maybe the
other way round: whether "googly-eyed" means you have stared at your
computer screen for too long!

Gabriele Kahn

----------

From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject:  LL-L "Etymology" 2003.03.01 (09) [E]

Hi Gary,

of course, "ab" also has the meaning of "off, away". But, at least in the
term "auf und ab" it definitely means "down" and nothing else. It also
appears in German dialects, such as Bavarian: "aufi" and "abi" or "aba".

And then there's the Spanish... "ariba" and "abajo" also seem pretty big
words (three syllables!) for such a simple concept...

Gabriele Kahn

==================================END===================================
* Please submit postings to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
  <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 =======================================================================