LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.28 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 27 March 2007 - Volume 06

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From: Jonny Meibohm <altkehdinger at freenet.de>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.28 (03) [E/LS]

Ron,

thanks for your answer regarding 'wyk' etc.:

You suggested a connection with German Weiche in the sense of 'crossroads',
if I understood you correctly.

No- not crossroad! This I guess to be of later date. We really use it in the
meaning of 'bay', G: 'Bucht' in narrow channels where a small vessel has to
wait and let pass through a bigger one.
I think the crossroad-meaning which we know from railways came later. In its
original sense I assume it denoted the same: two trains couldn't meet on one
railway, so one of them had to go aside, on a special rail, to let the other
one pass (G: 'aus-**weichen**'). This later became the word for that
mechanic plant that in English is 'point', American 'switch'.

And in Germany we get place names with -wig, as in Sleswig / Schleswig (the
*wig 'bay?' 'town?' of the Sley/Schlei river).

Well- the *Schlei* isn't a river! It's indeed a long, narrow bay. Many
people don't know this, and I hadn't until I had a girlfriend living over
there. So its meaning really could be 'the Sley(-'s) bight'. The Vikings
established in the next their famous 'Haithabu', what also could be
connected with '-bay': 'Heathen Bay', today's name 'Heddeby'.

The mentioned *Brunswick* also is situated at a river- the Oker. So here we
could find the connection, but fact is: many (most) old trading centres
(and a lot of ordinary settlements, too) had been established along rivers.

 Allerbest

Jonny Meibohm

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From: Jonny Meibohm <altkehdinger at freenet.de>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.28 (03) [E/LS]

Too fast!

I'd like to add something to my last posting regarding *Schleswig/Haithabu*!

From the German WIKIPEDIA:

*Die **Sachsen* <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsen_%28Volk%29>* und **
Franken* <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franken_%28Volk%29>* nannten die
Siedlung Sliaswig und Sliaswich (Bucht an der Schlei), wovon das heutige
Schleswig abgeleitet ist.*

Jonny Meibohm

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From: Marcel Bas <roepstem at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2007.03.28 (03) [E/LS]

Hello, Reinhard.


You gave this fine collection of Indo European cognates:

Old Saxon: wīk (homestead, populated area, village)
Old Frisian: wīk (homestead, populated area, village)
Old English: wīc (homestead, populated area, village)
Old German: wīh (homestead, populated area, village)
Germanic: *wīk (homestead, populated area, village)
Indo-Eur.: * ŭeiǩ- (housing, house, settlement)
Cf. Latin: vicus (homestead, village)

Old Saxon: wīka (change, bend, week), wīkan (to retreat)
Old English: wīc (bight, bay), wīcan (to retreat)
Old Frisian: wīk (side canal), wīke (week), wīk a (to retreat)
Old German: wīh (change, bend), wīhhan (to retreat)
Germanic: *wīkō (bend, curve)
Indo-Eur.: *ŭeik- (bend, curve)

And then you remarked:

"I think the two may be related at an early level, but it may be difficult
to prove this.

Semantically there is a connection. Given that a 'wijk' in Dutch is a
suburb, you could think of a populated area to be an extension of a
settlement, and so it could be a 'bend'; a kind of intrusion into previously
undisturbed terrain.

So you'd get: homestead > populated area > suburb > change, bend, etc.

How about that?

Best regards,

Marcel.

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

Marcel:

> How about that?

Sheer genius!  Thanks.

I found that old wīk sometimes appears in the sense of '(town's) quarter'
which seems consistent with what you say.

Bear in mind also that German Weiche means '(railroad) switch'.  So there's
the idea of "retreating" > "diverting".

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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