LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.13 (02) [D/E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
L O W L A N D S - L * 13.JUN.2004 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
http://www.lowlands-l.net * lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Rules & Guidelines: http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules
Posting: lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org or lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Server Manual: http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html
Archives: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) [Please switch your view mode to it.]
=======================================================================
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: Roger Hondshoven <roger.hondshoven at pandora.be>
Subject: LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.12 (01) [D/E/LS/German]

Utz,

Je moet heel waarschijnlijk uitgaan van de betekenis: "een dier dat als
offer geslacht wordt";

Beste groeten,

Roger

----------

From: John Duckworth <jcduckworth2003 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: False Friends

Greetings Lowlanders!

Considering all the hullaballoo about _sick_ versus _ill_, I decided to take
a look in some dictionaries.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (Ninth Edition) gives the primary meaning of
ILL as: "Out of health; sick (is ill; was taken ill with pneumonia;mentally
ill people)." It also points out :"The use of ILL to mean 'vomiting' or
'tending to vomit' is non-standard."

The Concise Oxford Thesaurus, A Dictionary of Synonyms, gives SICK, and
SICKLY as synonums of ILL. Similarly it gives ILL as a synonym of SICK.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, gives the 6th meaning of the word ILL
as 'not in good health; sick.' It states that this is the predominant modern
usage, and that it dates back to Late Middle English.

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary states:

SICK :1 "Feeling ill as if you are going to vomit."
          Lucy felt sick the morning after the party.
          If you eat any more of that cake, you'll make yourself sick
          2 be sick to vomit:
          She was sick after she ate too much chocolate."

It also gives:

"SICK : noun [U] UK INFORMAL vomit:a pool of sick on the floor".

The same dictionary gives:

"ILL (NOT WELL) : adjective : not feeling well, or suffering from a disease:
I felt ill so I went home.
He's been ill with meningitis.
Sophia fell ill/was taken ill (= became ill) while on holiday.
He is critically (= very badly) ill in hospital."

The same dictionary even lists POORLY as meaning 'ill', without any
criticism of the usage.

The Merriam-Webster (Online edition) is a little confusing in the way it
sets the entries out, but it appears to accept the sense "not in good
health" as one of the secondary meanings.

The same dictionary is clearer when it comes to SICK:

"1 a (1) : affected with disease or ill health " (2) : "of, relating to, or
intended for use in sickness <sick pay> <a sick ward>" b : Queasy,
nauseated: <sick to one's stomach> <was sick in the car> "

POORLY is also given in the adjectival sense of "somewhat ill; indisposed."

Since SICK is of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) origin (OE sEoc, cf. Old High
German seoh), and ILL is from Old Norse (ON illr, of unknown origin), could
the reason for the disagreement, in the British Isles at any rate, be a
tribal one, between Anglo-Saxons and Norse.ILL in the older sense of
'immoral', 'vicious' is said by at least one dictinary to be chiefly
Scottish; is it possible that the older meaning of ILL survived in Scotland,
 so they used the Anglo-Saxon word SICK in the sense of 'not well'? A quick
glance at a map of settlements of the Angles,Saxons and Jutes in 600 AD,
seems to show that Nottingham was probably in the Anglian territory, which
would explain why SICK is more prevalent there. In my area of Lancashire
(which at that time was still British [i.e. Celtic]) both SICK and ILL are
probably equally distributed, and POORLY was very common too a few decades
ago.

John Duckworth

Preston, Lancashire

================================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.
======================================================================