LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.09 (04) [E]

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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)
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From: Stella en Henno <stellahenno at hetnet.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2004.09.09 (02) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
>
> Folks,
>
> Gabriele's question about "varsity" and the responses of John Feather,
David
> Barrow and Elsie Zinsser above prompt me to revisit my perpetual question
> about this /er/ to /ar/ shift.
>
> Is this shift a predominent feature of certain English dialects, and, if
so,
> what is their ancestry?  Can we really talk about a relatively recent
shift,
> or might this go back to certain Old or Middle English varieties?
>
> Note that pretty much the same shift occurred in Lowlands Saxon (Low
> German), especially in the North Saxon varieties; e.g.,
>
> OS=Old Sax., LS=Mod.Low.Sax., OE=Old Eng., ME=Mod.Eng., OF=Old Fries.,
> WF=Westerl.Fries., Sc=Scots, D=Dutch, G=German
>
> OS  |  LS  |  OE  |  ME  |  Sc  |  OF  |  WF  |  D  |  G
> werk  | wark | weorc | work | wark | weorc | wurk | werk | Werk
> kirika/kerika | kark | circe | church | kirk |
szereke/szurke/tzierka/tziurk
> | tsjerke | kerk | Kirche
> berg  | barg | beorƽ | barrow | ? | berch | berg | Berg
> herta  | hart | heorte/hearta* | heart | hert* | hert | hart | Herz
> ? | smart | smeart | smart | smert | smairt | smart | Schmerz

The situation for West Frisian is quite complicated, in fact.
There are also quite a few words that have "er > ar" changes:
"kar" (choice, Dutch keuze) which is "ker" in Old Frisian (also used like
Dutch "keur" (as a type of law, also Kür in German, I believe) and in fact
etymologically equal to "keur" (from *kuri in West Germanic), with
derounding of umlaut product of u to e.

Same thing in "bar" (turn, as in a game, Dutch "beurt", WF wa is oan bar
= (Dutch) wie is aan de beurt = whose turn is it), from older "ber" < *buri
or some such form.
Also "mar" (lake, Dutch "meer", also from *mer).

Also "hart" for Dutch hert (the animal, English "deer") must be of this
type.
(or is it a Low Saxon loan? but the above forms certainly are native)

Both "werke" and "wurkje" occur for "to work" (although the first form might
be Dutch, or at least supported by Dutch ("werken").
"wurk" is from older "wirk" (with rounding, which occurs almost always
with -ir before a consonant), which is (I think) an umlauted form of "werk".
eg. on Skylge/Terschelling the two native Frisian dialects treat these
vowels for consonant quite differently: the West has "workje" while the East
has "werkje", West has "borch" (for "berch") while East has "berch".
Knop wanted to explain the "o" forms from a broken form like the Old English
"hearta", and I believe "heorta" also occurs, IIRC.

Other cases like "wurk": "swurk" (sky, cf Dutch zwerk).
"murk" (past tense of "merke"), probably from "murken" (Dutch gemerkt).
"swurf" and "swurven" (past tense and perfect of "swervje/swerve", Dutch
zwerven)
(the past had "swirf < swe:rf (old e_2 I believe, cf Dutch zwierf, but data
from verbs is not always that reliable), and some more.

> * Old Northumbrian _hearta_
>
> By the way, for those of you who do not already know this, let me add that
> the pronunciation of North Saxon /ar/ is pretty much in the same range as
> that of Australian English as well as that of Bostonian and certain other
> New England varieties: [a:].  If you pronounce LS _hart_ and _mark_ in the
> way those English dialects do ([ha:t], [ma:k]) it's perfect, and the
meaning
> is the same too.
Same in the North of the Netherlands (like Drente, Groningen)
In West Frisian the -r disappears only before dentals (so [hEt] for "hert",
but [mErk] and [bErx] for "merk" and "berch").

> Regards,
> Reinhard/Ron

Regards

Henno

----------

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

Thanks, Henno.

> Other cases like "wurk":
> "swurk" (sky, cf Dutch zwerk).

LS swark [sva:k] (dark cloud, ominous-looking sky)

"murk" (past tense of "merke")

LS mark [ma:k], marken [ma:kN] (to notice)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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