LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.07.26 (05) [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 (Zeeuws)
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L O W L A N D S - L * 26 July 2006 * Volume 05
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From: 'jonny' <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L: 'Etymology'

El dorado!

Tonight I had the chance to talk with a very clear, aware and intelligent women
(a member of our local nobility; born a.d. 1913) about our olden times. I hadn't
had any contact with her since about 50 years- but she did remember me very well!!!

Wow- a word I'd never seen written before but existing in my mind: LS: _feller_,
I guess spoken like 'fellow' in Scots, for my imagination. I don't need to
explain it, do I? I indeed remember this word from my youthen times, but always
mixed it up with HG: _Vetter_ or even _Vater_ for a long time (up until
yesterday!) in my life. Of course- it's from the same stem...

Maybe it's no sensation for specialists amongst you, but for me it is!

Greutens/Regards

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

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From: Heather Rendall <HeatherRendall at compuserve.com>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2006.07.23 (01) [E]

Message text written by INTERNET:lowlands-l at LOWLANDS-L.NET
>"dog days (of summer)"? <

Something to do with the Dog star Sirius, I think. Doesn't the Dog Star
rise in July and these then become known as the Dog days of summer?

Heather

Who is watching 4 hornets trying to eat their way through the window to get
at my desk light! I am having to sleep with all windows closed during this
heatwave because we clearly have a nest of these blighters - of whom 13
have have met their Maker this last week, having got in before windows were
closed

14 if you count the one that I trod on last Sunday. Very painful! It took 4
days of anti-histamine before the swelling started to subside!

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From: 'Reinhard (Ron) F. Hahn' <rhahn at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Etymology

So, Jonny, what does this _feller_ actually mean in that dialect?  I think you
forgot to tell us.  Or did I miss it?

Oh, poor Heather! I hope you're feeling better in the meantime. Those hornets
seem to like you. They are quite the pieces of work – and I'm not referring to
the various rugby teams that proudly carry that name "Hornets."

By the bye, Low Saxon names for "hornet" are these:

- hournt (Hoornt, Huurnt) (f., pl. __s)
- hoyrnt (Höörnt, Hüünt) (f., pl. __s)
- hourntje (Hoorntje, Huurntje) (dim., n., pl. __s)
- hoyrn(e)tje (Höörntje, Höörnetje) (dim., n., pl. __s)
- peyrweepsch (Peerweepsch, Peerwääpsch, Pierweepsch
    (f., pl. __en)
  ~ peyrwepsch (Peerwepsch) (f., pl. __en)
  ~ peyrwoeps (Peerwööps, Peerwœps, Pierwööps)
    (f., pl. __en)
  ~ peyrwups (Peerwups, Pierwupps) (f., pl. __en)
  ~ peyrwispel (Peerwispel) (f., pl. __n, __s)
- peyrjiddel (Peerjiddel, Pierjiddel) (f., pl. __n, __s)

Key:
jiddelig: fidgety, nervous, irritated
jiddeln: to fidget
peyr: horses = (peyrd' < peyrde, pl. of peyrd)
weepsch: wasp
wispel: wasp
woeps: wasp
wups: wasp

Old Saxon: horneta, hornut, hornobero
Old English: hurnitu, hirnitu, hyrnetu, hyrnet
Middle Dutch: hôrnete, hornte, horsel(e) (> E.Mod horener, horzel)
Old German: hornuz, hornoz, hornaz (> Hornisse)

The classical interpretation is "horn blower," strengthened by Old Saxon
_hornobero_ and Middle Dutch _horsel(e)_.  However, this is now believed to have
been a case of folk etymology and that the word actually comes from *_horz-nut-_
with the root (*_kÅ—s-_ >) *_hors-_ 'wasp'; cf. Old Slavonic _srÅ­Å¡a_,
Russian/Ukrainian шершень _šeršen'_, Czech/Slovak _sršeň_, Polish _szerszen_,
Latvian _sirsenes_, Sudovian Old Prussian _sirsilis_, Gaelic _cearnabhan_,
_conuiche_, Irish _cearnabhán_ (< *_cerno-_), perhaps also Latin _crabro_, all
'hornet'or 'wasp'.

N.B.: Estonian _vapsik_ 'hornet' (< Middle Saxon _waps(e)_ < Old Saxon _waspa_);
as opposed to apparently native _herilane_ 'wasp', 'hornet', cf. Finnish
_herhiläinen_ 'hornet', which I, however, considered related to (loaned from?)
Slavonic or Baltic (see above, bearing in mind the relationship between _s_ and _h_).

Talking about wasps, what would summer be without them? Tant Clara wrote a story
about them (in Low Saxon, with my English translation):
http://www.sassisch.net/rhahn/kramer/wepschen.htm

She also wrote a story about bluebottles:
http://www.sassisch.net/rhahn/kramer/brummer.htm

At our previous abode just north of Seattle, our neighbor once had a nest of
wasps under a roof drain. It wasn't far from my upstairs office (non-US "study"),
and I liked to keep the balcony doors open when I was busy there in the summer. I
could see the nest from where I was sitting at the computer. Once, I saw a
whopper of a wasp leave the nest, take aim and head straight toward me. I quickly
got up to close the door, and the rest seemed to go in slow motion. I didn't have
enough time and soon saw the attacker head straight for the middle of my face,
and … voilà , "right on the nose," as the saying goes. No, wait! *In* the nose! It
stung me on the outside of my right nostril, and in the mirror I saw that the
well-endowed attacker had completely pierced the side of my nose, and the tip of
the stinger could be seen inside my nostril! Although I can't relate to liking
body piercing, I'd rather wear one of those Indian-inspired one-side nose rings
than a pumping wasp. So I plucked off the sucker … well, the pumper. But the
weapon remained, and with it the ammunition: a throbbing venom sack. It took a
bit of doing to get that mess removed. Fortunately, thanks to my attacker's
overzealous effort, most of the venom ended up inside my nostril rather than in
the flesh. So my nose and face ended up half as swollen as it could have been.
Good thing, too, considering that I'm allergic to just about anything you can
imagine. I told the neighbor that it might be time to remove that nest,
considering also that there were several children playing around there. She, a
very private English lady with the name Deborah (< Hebrew דְבוׄרָה _d'vôrâh_ 'bee')
and a neurotic companion of the spaniel persuation, became even more paranoid
than usual, probably fearing I was in a suing mood _à l'américaine_. Neighbors
claim she later hosed off the nest and got stung herself.

I love summer, and I love summer stories.

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron

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