LL-L "Onomastica" 2005.03.06 (08) [E]

Mon Mar 7 06:22:05 UTC 2005

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From: Jo Thys <Jo.Thijs1 at pandora.be>
Subject: LL-L "Onomastica" 2005.03.06 (01) [D/E]

Hei Heather,

> Could not lek- be derived from  German 'Lach-' ? And mean just this?
> Lachborn  in German   Lagbrunna/ Lacbrunna in A/Saxon   'lekbron' in
> Flemish ?

In English it probably does. In Dutch I don't know a cognate of Lach being
used as 'to/ a mark'. A 'leksteen' is for cows, a 'lekstek' for kids (a
lolly) and a 'lekboom' doesn't ring any bells. The Lek and the Laak are
Dutch rivers, though may be also markers. Dutch 'lekken' (alt. leken) means
'not being closed' and comes from Md. 'lecken' <  Md.lac (adj), lac, lake
(subst) (lake, pool, stream) cognate with Ohg. lahha Oe. laku Onorse Lökr
(little stream), Oirish legaim (I melt), Welsh llaith (humid). (van Dale)

A 'bron' is often very difficult to spot, and therefore not  suited as a
marker. The stream it feeds however often acts as a natural border, not the
few leapable feet, but the marshes at both sides, which are very difficult
to cross by horse and car (before they've been drained). Where one did could
cross, settlements would easily develop, often on both sides of the stream.
Later, when territories were reshuffeld, the locals ruled from this stream
to that stream, and many villages got divided resulting in many doubles like
Grote and Kleine Spouwen, Mal en Kakmal, Over- en Neerglableek (< gladbeek)
often only a few hundred meters apart..

If you 've been cleared (last) your village should be named -ley, there
seems to be some pattern, and someone must have been clearing all those
sites surrounding you.

Groeten,

Jo Thys

----------

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

Heather, Lowlanders,

English supposedly still has the word _lea_ that we are talking about, must
it must be rather archaic by now.

This is what the online version of the _Oxford English Dictionary_ has to
say about it:

<quote>
LEA, n.1
[OE. _léa_ (_h_ masc. (genitive _léas_, _léages_, nom. pl. _léas_), and
_léah_ fem. (genitive léage), app. meaning a tract of cultivated or
cultivable land; in spite of the difference of sense, the words appear to be
etymologically identical with OHG. _lôh_ neut. or masc., used to render L.
_lūcus_ |l{u-macron}cus| grove (MHG. _lôh_, _lôch_ low brushwood, clearing
overgrown with small shrubs, mod.Ger. dial. _loh_), and perh. with Flem.
_-loo_ in place-names, as _Waterloo_; the pre-Teut. type *_louqo-_ occurs
also in L. _lūcus_ |l{u-macron}cus| grove, and Lith. _laukas_ meadow and
arable land, as opposed to wood; the root is supposed by some scholars to be
*_leuq_- to shine (whence L. _lūcēre_ |l{u-macron}c{e-macron}re|, Eng. LIGHT
_n_., etc.; for the sense cf. _clearing_); others have suggested *_leu-_ to
loosen (Gr. _λύειυ_ |lamda+upsilon-grave+epsilon+iota+upsilo|, L.
_sol-vĕ-re_ |sol-v{e-breve}-re|).
  The sense has been influenced by confusion with LEASE _n_.1 (OE. _lǣs_
|l{digraph-ae-macron}s|), which seems often to have been mistaken for a
plural, and also with LEA _n_.2]
    A tract of open ground, either meadow, pasture, or arable land. After
OE. chiefly found (exc. where it is the proper name of a particular piece of
ground) in poetical or rhetorical use, ordinarily applied to grass land.
  805 in Birch _Cartul. Sax._ (1885) I. 450 _Campus armentorum_ id est
_hriðra leah_. 944 Ibid. (1887) II. 540 Þonne geuðe ic Ælfwine & Beorhtulfe
þæs leas & þæs hammes be norðan þære lytlan dic. c1430 _Hymns Virg_. (1867)
95 Bi a forest as y gan walke With-out a paleys in a leye. c1470 Golagros &
Gaw. 312 Thai plantit doun ane pailyeoun, vpone ane plane lee. c1470
HENRYSON _Fables_ viii. 1793 in _Anglia_ IX. 458 Luik to the lint that
growis on yone le. 1513 DOUGLAS _Æneis_ XII. Prol. 183 In lyssouris and on
leys litill lammis Full tait and trig socht bletand to thar dammis. 1526
SKELTON _Magnyf._ 2093, I garde her gaspe, I garde her gle, With, daunce on
the le, the le! 1535 STEWART _Cron. Scot._ (1858) I. 627 Eugenius vpoune ane
lustie le Dewydit hes his ost in battellis thre. a1541 WYATT in _Tottel's
Misc._ (Arb.) 90 In lusty leas at libertie I walke. 1586 _Durham Depos._
(Surtees) 320, I have bene yonder in the lighes. 1588 SPENSER _Virg. Gnat_
110 Flowres varietie With sundrie colours paints the sprinckled lay. 1610
SHAKES. _Temp_. IV. i. 60 Ceres, most bounteous Lady, thy rich Leas Of
Wheate, Rye, Barley, Fetches, Oates and Pease. 1634 MILTON _Comus_ 965 Other
trippings..With the mincing Dryades On the Lawns, and on the Leas. 1750 GRAY
_Elegy_ i, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. 1790 BURNS _Elegy
Capt. Henderson_ v, Mourn, little hare~bells o'er the lee. 1808 COLERIDGE
_Three Graves_ III. xxxiv, I saw young Edward by himself Stalk fast adown
the lee. 1813 HOGG _Queen's Wake_ 221 Stern Tushilaw strode o'er the ley.
1849 LONGFELLOW _Birds of Passage_ v, From the land of snow and sleet they
seek a southern lea. 1850 TENNYSON _In Mem._ cxv, Now dance the lights on
lawn and lea. 1851 KINGSLEY _Poems, Bad Squire_ 12 Where under the gloomy
fir-woods One spot in the ley throve rank.
  transf. 1612 DRAYTON _Poly-olb._ i. 23 Surging Neptunes leas.
    ¶Used loosely for 'ground'.
  c1450 _Bk. Curtasye_ III. 441 in _Babees Bk._, On legh vnsonken hit [a
pallet] shalle be made.
    b. Occurring in place-names.
  778 _Charter of Cynewulf_ in _O.E. Texts_ 427 To brad(an) leage, _illo
septo_ bradan leage. 862 _Charter of Æðelberht_ ibid. 438 Bromleag … an
norðan fram ceddan leage to langan leage. c1305 _St. Kenelm_ 342 in _E.E.P._
(1862) 56 Heo..To-ward wynchecumbe come rigt vnder souþ leg. 1572 _Satir.
Poems Reform_. xxxi. 75 Nor quhen thay come in feir of weir Downe to the
Gallow Ley. 1620 in Willis & Clark _Cambridge_ (1886) I. 126 A ground..now
commonly called S. Thomas' Leyes. 1844 S. BAMFORD _Life of Radical_ 39 We
found ourselves traversing Hopwood ley.
</quote>

And this about "low" as in "blaze":

<quote>
LOW, LOWE, n.2
Chiefly _Sc._ and _north._
[a. ON. _loge_ wk. masc. (Da. _lue_) = OFris. _loga_:--OTeut. type *_logon-_
(_lugon-_), pre-Teut. _lukón-_, cogn. w. MHG., mod.G. _lohe_ fem.:--OTeut.
type *_lohâ_ (_luhâ_):--pre-Teut. *_lúkā_ |l{u-grave}k{a-macron}|, f.
*_luk-_ wk. grade of the Aryan root *_leuk-_: see LEYE, and LIGHT n.]
    1. Flame; a flame, a blaze.
  a1225 _Ancr. R._ 356 Cherubines sweorde..of lai [_MS. T._ lohe]. c1250
_Gen. & Ex._ 643 Al-so hege ðe lowe sal gon, So ðe flod flet de dunes on.
a1300 _Cursor M._ 5739 Him thoght brennand he sagh a tre Als it wit lou war
al vm-laid. 1340 HAMPOLE _Pr. Consc._ 9430 Lowe and reke with stormes
melled. c1470 HENRY _Wallace_ VIII. 1054 The rude low rais full heych adown
that hauld. 1533 BELLENDEN _Livy_ I. xvi. (S.T.S.) 88 His hede apperit (as
It war blesand) in ane rede low. 1631 A. CRAIG _Pilgr. & Hermit_ 8 The Coale
that mee burnes to the bone, will I blow, Though Liver, Lungs, and Lights,
fly vp in a low. 1785 BURNS _Vision_ I. 39 By my ingle-lowe I saw..A tight,
outlandish Hizzie. 1816 SCOTT _Bl. Dwarf_ iii, The low of the candle, if the
wind wad let it bide steady. 1849 C. BRONTË _Shirley_ iv, A verse blazing
wi' a blue brimstone low. 1892 R. KIPLING _Barrack-room Ballads_ 126 For
every time I raised the lowe That scared the dusty plain,..I'll light the
land with twain. 1901 _Trans. Stirling Nat. Hist. Soc._ 51 The Dead
Candle... A blue lowe, moving along slowly about three feet from the ground.
    b. Phrases. _(to be, set) in, on a low_, in a flame, on fire; _to put
the low to_, to set fire to; _to take a low_, to catch fire.
  c1200 ORMIN 16185 All alls itt wære all oferr hemm O loghe. c1330 R.
BRUNNE _Chron. Wace_ (Rolls) 14692 Þe fir, þe tonder, þe brymston hot,
Kyndled on lowe, & vp hit smot. c1422 HOCCLEVE _Learn to die_ 703 Whan þat a
greet toun set is on a lowe. a1584 MONTGOMERIE _Cherrie & Slae_ 745 Will
flatterit him,..An set him in an low. 1722 RAMSAY _Three Bonnets_ II. 103
Soon my beard will tak' a low. 1815 SCOTT _Guy M._ x, She [a vessel] was..in
a light low. 1826 J. WILSON _Noct. Ambr._ Wks. 1855 I. 130 A..boy fell off
his chair a' in a low, for the discharge had set him on fire. 1865 G.
MACDONALD _A. Forbes_ viii. 25 Ye wad hae the hoose in a low aboot oor lugs.
    2. spec.    a. A light used by salmon-poachers.
  1814 J. HODGSON in J. Raine _Mem._ (1857) I. 146 For making lows or
fish-lights for fishing in the night. 1856 _Denham Tracts_ (1892) I. 315
This used to be done with a low and a leister.
    b. A light or piece of candle used by miners.
  1816 in I. H. H. HOLMES _Coal Mines Durham_, etc. 245. 1865 _Trapper's
Petit._ in _Our Coal & Coal-fields_ 155 'Tis very dark and that small low
You gave me soon will burn away.
</quote>

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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