LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.08.30 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 30 August 2006 * Volume 04
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L 'Idiomatica'

Beste Karl-Heinz,

You wrote:
> I sometimes like to provoke the kids with phrases like: "Brav sein ischt
> wichtig!", because nobody wants to be "brav" (keep out of mischief) in these days.
>
Funny isn't it, how the meaning of a word like "braaf" (D) and "brav"
(G) shifts in the course of history.

>From wild (~ barbarus, cf. "bravoure") > brave > spry > lovely > docile,
which reflects more or less the opposite of the original meaning.
Translating "braaf" in French isn't obvious, as the first word that
springs to mind would be "sage" (F), but that means "wise" as well. In
Dutch, "braaf" in opposition to "stout", is very often used when
describing the behavior of children; so I wonder if "naughty" has any
other opposite, apart from the general term "good", that you could use
when qualifying a child's behavior. Or is this no longer PC? *s*

Come to think of it, "stout" (D) and "stolz" (G) have obviously drifted
apart.

Greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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