LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.07 (02) [E/German]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  07 December 2007 - Volume 02
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

Beste Heather,

You wrote:
> We have a dreadful lurgie go round at the moment: nasty head cold,
> sore throat and bad cough. My daughter married to a Scot has been
> picking up his way of saying things and was heard last week to remark
> " You've given me the smits" i.e. you've passed the infection on to me
>
> I had never heard this before. Apparently there's 'smittle' as well,
> meaning infection. Does it have any lowland link?

"to smittle" is a frequentative of Old English "smitten", "to befoul",
which is cognate with Dutch "smet" (= stain (E)) and German "Schmutz".
Dutch also has the verb "besmetten", "to infect", and the word
"smetvrees", nosophobia, a (mental) disease that some housewives suffer
from.

Strikes me :-D   how "to smite" means "to strike" in Flemish/Brabantish
"smijting" (thrashing), just like it did in Old English. Whereas
"strijken" is quite the opposite, "to caress" (E), "streicheln" (G). Of
course the movement is similar, but the intent isn't.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: Joachim Kreimer-de Fries < Kreimer at jpberlin.de>
Subject: LL-L "Holidays" 2007.12.06 (04) [E,LS, G]

Moyn trügge,

Reinhard/Ron Hahn quoted from my posting regarding "sünteklaas":

>> "Sünt Nümmer ein Heiliger, der nicht existiert; to
>> Süntnümmersdage,  wan de Sniggen bisset = niemals." (Klöntrup)
>> [Saintneverday, when the slugs/snails become randy/lewd/lustful]

and commented:

> Are you absolutely sure that that's what it means? Had you not
> added a translation I would have sworn that it means "... when the
> snails/slugs run." I would have connected bissen with Northern Low
> Saxon birsen 'to run'.

No, I'm not absolutly sure. At the first seeing of "bisset" I
supposed the same innocent meaning as you tell. But unsure, I looked
also after the LS-Westphalian-word "bissen" in Klöntrup and found:

"bissen
vor wild laufen; wird nur von Kühen gebraucht; von Pferden sagt man
se wäret löüpsk.
Im Scherz sagt man
wän de Sniggen bisset - ad calendas graecas." (Klöntrup)

Then, to be sure, I found under

"löüpsk - s. lorsk" and under

"lorsk s. loren; eene lorske Tiwe eine läufige Hündin, ein
mannsüchtiges Mädchen."

So, from the association I already have had reading "läüpsk" (G:
läufig) and because of that meaning of "löüpsk/lorsk" I concluded the
"randy/lewd/lustful" (found in Leo's online dictionary as response to
"läufig").

Now finally, after your objection, I look again in Klöntrup under:

"loren" and read:

"loren läufisch seyn /:loupsk sin:/; wird nur von Hündinnen
gebraucht; von Kühen sagt man in dem Falle bullen und bulsk sin; von
Ziegen see bücket oder sind bücksk; von Pferden see sind
pask /:pagisk, von Page ein Pferd, Hengst:/." (all Klöntrup)

Therefore you may well be right, because sniggen [snails/slugs]
aren't bitches or she-dogs.  On the other hand...

Anyway, it's funny to find the "Süntnümmersdag" and come to such
ambiguity while talking about Santa Claus...

Keep honest,

Joachim Kreimer-de Fries

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

Hi, Joachim, and thanks.

I understood the connection between "running" and "being in heat" right
away. I believe the writer of that entry may have jumped the gun in making
the meaning of "to be in heat" (of cows) the overriding meaning, or that he
worded the entry in such a way that one interprets it that way.

I still believe the basic (as well as original) meaning of *bissen* is 'to
run', as is the case with the cognate *birsen* in the northern dialects of
Low Saxon. The meaning "to be in heat" is derivative and specific with
reference to cows (in the sense of "to run around," and other words for "to
run" in Low Saxon and German for "to be in heat" of other animals is not
really pertinent to my point).

What *is* my point really? Snails are notoriously and proverbially slow;
they creep, slide along ... When you say, "when snails run" meaning "never
in a million years" (or "when pigs fly") you are referring to the opposite.
Get it?  I don't for a second think that "to be in heat" enters the picture
here.

Kumpelmenten in't Huus!
Reinhard/Ron

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From: Kevin & Cheryl Caldwell <kevin.caldwell1963 at verizon.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.06 (07) [E]

Hmm. Any connection to 'smut', perhaps?

*smut*

Function: *noun*

Date: 1664

1*:* matter that soils or blackens; *specifically* *:* a particle of soot 2*
:* any of various destructive diseases especially of cereal grasses caused
by parasitic basidiomycetous fungi (order Ustilaginales) and marked by
transformation of plant parts into dark masses of spores; *also* *:* a
fungus causing a smut 3*:* obscene language or matter

Function: *verb*

Etymology: probably alteration of earlier *smot* to stain, from Middle
English *smotten;* akin to Middle High German *smutzen* to stain

Date: 1587

*transitive verb* 1 *:* to stain or taint with smut 2 * :* to affect (a crop
or plant) with smut

*intransitive verb* *:* to become affected by smut

Kevin Caldwell

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

Subject: Etymology

Heather:

Is it allowed to satrt a new etymological question under the same heading.

But of course, Heather!

You've given me the smits

The first candidate that came to my little mind is related to "smite" and
"smitten". "Smitten by the malady" perhaps?

Note: "to smite" = "to infect", "to pass on (an illness)" besides "to
strike":

Old English: *smítan* (> 'to strike')
Old Frisian: *smîta* (> *smite* 'to throw')
Middle Saxon: *smîten* (> *smieten* 'to throw')
Middle Dutch: *smiten *(*> smijten* 'to throw')*
*Old German: *smîzan* (also 'to smear', 'to smudge', 'to contaminate' > *
schmeißen* 'to throw')
Gothic:* -smeitan* (also 'to smear', 'to smudge', 'to contaminate')

Old English: *smitte* (> *smit* ) 'spot', 'stain'
Middle Saxon: *smette, smitte, smit*
Middle Dutch: *smette, smitte, smit *
Middle German: *smiz* (> dial. *Schmitz*, related to *Schmutz* 'dirt')

I hope you got unsmitten by now.

Best wishes,
Reinhard/Ron
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.12.06 (07) [E]

Dear Heather & Ron:

Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

We have a dreadful lurgie go round at the moment: nasty head cold, sore
throat and bad cough. My daughter married to a Scot has been picking up his
way of saying things and was heard last week to remark " You've given me the
smits" i.e. you've passed the infection on to me

I had never heard this before. Apparently there's 'smittle' as well, meaning
infection. Does it have any lowland link?

From Ron:
The first candidate that came to my little mind is related to "smite" and
"smitten". "Smitten by the malady" perhaps?

From me:
How about 'smut'? Chambers Etymological Dictionary, "A spot of dirt, soot,
foul matter, a disease of corn (wheat) &c."

Thinking Scots, a book I read made a grue run up my back, called 'Famine in
the Wind'. Anybody concerned for Humanity's future should read it... Anyway,
before rye was the staple it briefly became (pre-potato) throughout Central
Europe, there was only barley & wheat. Then came the smut & with it, famine.
The book says it was a name common in its variants (like the murrain)
throughout Europe.

Then there is the family name 'Smuts', not unknown in this country.

The sound 'U' in Afrikaans at least is a rounded schwa, unlike the way that
letter is pronounced either in RP English (a low central vowel) or in the
more Northern dialects (high back, that makes the vowel in 'luck' sound
closer to that in 'book').

I can believe the 'smuts' & the 'smits' being the same word pronounced the
same way. This to my mind doesn't detract from its associations with
'smite'. Words carry associations with them, not only from their
etymological derivatives but from similar sounding words with
enriching meaning of their own. This is one of the most creative tools in
the poet's chest (yes).

Yrs,
Mark
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