LL-L "Idiomatica" 2007.03.03 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 03 March 2007 - Volume 03

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

Sandy wrote under "Anecdotes":

> This bell or clock was put there, ...

> clock: cf French "cloche"?

"Bell" and "clock" (and their equivalents in different varieties) used to be
virtually synonymous. English "clock" originally meant "bell."  After all,
few individuals owned clocks, and everyone went by the church bell or by the
professional hour keeper (who tended to walk around in the streets calling
out the hour while ringing a bell).

While most European languages now distinguish "bell" and "clock," Low Saxon
and Icelandic (and Faeroese?) belong to the modern ones that use the same
word in all contexts:

English: bell | clock | ... o'clock
Scots: bell (clock) | clock | ... o'clock (?)
L. Saxon: klok (Klock) | klok (Klock) | klok ... (Klock ...)
Dutch: klok | klok ~ uurwerk | ... uur
Afrikaans: klok | uur | ... uur
German: Glocke | Uhr | ... Uhr
Yiddish: glok (קלאָק) | zeyger (זייגער) | ... a zeyger (אַ זייגער ...)*
Danish: klokke | ur | klokken ...**
Norwegian: klokke | ur | klokken ...**
Swedish: klocka | ur | klockan ...**
Icelandic: bjalla ~ klukka | klukka | klukkan ...**

Old English: belle ~ clucge
Old Frisian: klokke
Old Saxon: ?
Old L. Frank.: ?
Old German: glokka ~ scella ~ skilla
Old Norse: bjalla ~ klokka
Gothic: skilla

* literally "... a clock"
** literally "the bell ..."

Examples:

English: It is three o'clock right now.
L. Saxon: Dat is jüst nu klok drey. (Dat is jüst nu Klock dree.)
German: Es ist gerade drei Uhr.

English: Come at half past six!
L. Saxon: Kaam klok halvig soeven! (Kaam Klock halvig sœven!)* **
German: Komm um halb sieben!**

* The ordinary word for "half" is halv (half) in Low Saxon, but in time
expressions it is halvig.
** literally "half seven"

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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