LL-L "Etymology" 2008.08.14 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 14 August 2008 - Volume 02
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Heather, you wrote:

I came across a new word this morning which was 'snob' used to mean a
cobbler / shoemaker.



I had never heard it before used like this. Does it have any Lowland
connotations??



That *is* very interesting, isn't it?

I checked the supersize *Oxford English Dictionary* which considers the
origin obscure. However, what is interesting there is that "snob" in the
better-known sense ("One who despises those who are considered inferior in
rank, attainment, or taste") is actually related to it and in fact derived
from it.



Another thing that's interesting is that "snob" in the apparently earliest
sense of "cobbler" can be attested only as far back as the second half of
the 18th century. It is flagged as dialectical, colloquial or slang by
origin. This should prompt us to err on the side of allowing for this word
to have been used in certain dialects in spoken form earlier, perhaps even
much earlier, because occurrence in literature says little about the age of
a word.

I can think of no Lowlands connection, but the words has a Scandinavian ring
to it, as does "snub", which *is* of Scandinavian origin.  If "snob" is
indeed of Scandinavian origin it may be quite old in English of course.  But
I can't find anything in Old Norse that may qualify as the origin of "snob".


What if it started as an acronym or as the last name of a notorious cobbler?
;-)

Anyway, the semantic journey appears to be as follows:

SNOB

(1) cobbler, shoemaker; cobbler's apprentice (1781)

\

anyone not a gownsman;

a townsman (Cambridge, 1796)
|
(2) person belonging to ordinary or lower classes of society;
one having no pretensions to rank or gentility (1831)
|
(3) one who has little or no breeding or good taste; vulgar or ostentatious
person (1838)
|
(4) one who meanly or vulgarly admires and seeks to imitate, or associate
with, those of superior rank or wealth;
one who wishes to be regarded as a person of social importance (1848)
|
(5) one who despises those who are considered inferior in rank, attainment,
or taste (1911)

Probably derived from (2) is "snob" in the New Zealand and Australian sense
of "last sheep to be sheared", "roughest or most difficult sheep to shear".
Interestingly, this can also be covered by the word "cobbler". So the
connection between "snob" and "cobbler" is intact in this shearer's jargon.
"Snob" in this sense occurs in writing as recently as 1945.

I have this sneaking suspicion that "snob" in the modern sense is either
strongly influenced by or directly derived from "snob" used in the mentioned
Cambridge University jargon, where students looked down upon ordinary
townspeople of Cambridge, where even the greenest freshman, who was a "snob"
himself just recently, thought he was way above ordinary folk -- a "label
turned around", so to speak.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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From: Marcel Bas <marcelbas at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.08.14 (01) [E]

Hallo Reinhard,

Je schreef:

"According to Pokorny, *ac* etc. goes back to Indo-European **aĝ-* 'to
move', 'to swing', 'to drive', 'to lead'. Sounds weird, doesn't it? What is
supposed to be the semantic connection?"

I'm not sure. But consider an analogous development:

The Indo-European root *eug- which soon became *aug-. Its definition is 'to
increase'. You can find it in a verb like 'augment', but also in  words like
'auxiliary' and Germanic cognates such as D. *ook*, G. *auch, *F. *ek* and
E. *eke, *'also' (hence the verb *to eke*).

Best regards,

Marcel.
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