LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.28 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 28 February 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Danette & John Howland <dan_how at msn.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.24 (03) [E]

Hello, all!

In a recent and deliciously perceptive post Gael Fonken wrote:

    " I'm working on another topic that is equally hard to nail down "for
sure"—which is the way epistemological differences don't translate exactly.
I'm looking at subtle slippages between words like *enclosure* and
*edge*that open up hidden perceptual connotations
*that don't have any referent *beyond their culture of origin."

To see examples of another great mind linking space & time concepts with
culturally bound language constructs (and to open up further discussion on
common germanic and lowlands subject matter) I would heartily recommend a
collection of essays by Paul C, Bauschatz published as *The Well and the
Tree: World & Time in Early Germanic Culture. *Does anyone on the list know
this work?

And Ron added these observations:

"Consider the case of the already mentioned cognates: **tūn* > German
*Zaun*'fence', Low Saxon
*Tuun* 'fence' ~ 'garden', Dutch *toen* 'garden', Scots *toon* 'town',
English "town," or **gata* > German *Gasse* '(small, narrow connecting)
street', Scandinavian *gata*, *gade* 'street', Middle Saxon *gate* (fem.)* ~
gatte* (neut.) 'alley', 'passage way', 'opening' > Modern Low Saxon
*Gatt*'passageway', 'aperture', 'opening', 'anus', 'backside',
'buttocks' (also
Dutch and Afrikaans *gat*), and also > English "gate."

In the first example, the earlier postulated Indo-European idea of "woven
branches (for fencing)" ended up not only meaning "fence" but also that
which the fence encloses: "garden" (which is related to "yard" which goes
back to IE **ĝhordo-* "woven branches (for fencing)" < IE **ĝher-* 'to
enclose', cf. Altaic: Mongolian *ger* 'homestead', 'home' '(movable) house',
'yurt', but that's another story ...) Where this shift from to "garden"
occurred, the intermediate step of "fence" got lost and another word is
needed for it. In Britain, descendants of **tūn* came to denote the entire
fenced-in homestead, then probably a cluster of homesteads, and it made the
transition to a larger community, hence "town." A native English speaker
without this knowledge would not think of weaving branches into fencing when
he or she thinks of the meaning of "town." The weaving bit became irrelevant
when cognates of this group became generalized as "barrier" to include any
type of enclosing, such as walls and ramparts. And here we go outside
Germanic and consider Celtic **d**ūn*: Old Irish *dún*, Galish *dûnum*,
Scottish Gaelic *dùn*, Welsh *din* 'heap', 'walled structure', 'fortress'
(cf. Scottish Gaelic *Dùn Èideann* 'Edinburgh'). I don't think that the leap
from 'edge' to '(outside) barrier' to 'fence' is a great one."

I agree. Another example of this is the oft-noted etymological relationship
between the two "diek-words" in English: "ditch" and "dike." Someone from
outside the culture bounds of germanic traditions (let's say a plains nomad
or desert-dweller) might find it strange that variants of the same word
might refer to a hole in the ground and its logical opposite: a mound of
earth. But among a people for whom earth moving is as important for survival
as weaving it makes perfect sense.

Be well.

John Howland
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.02.25 (04) [E]

Dear All:

Subject: LL- L "Etymology"

...& by no means on the basis of this quotation below in isolation...

*Now* I wonder if Gael studies the Kabbala.

 Gael wrote: "Oh, and in the images of inner soul space I read about in the
Eastern side of Byzantium, people talk of this inner space as being shaped
like a tree growing *inward *with lots of branches."

& if I didn't offer my contributions, it is only because I was so thoroughly
anticipated. Ron doesn't half make one feel redundant sometimes. Luc is also
pretty baddd.

Mark

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

Thanks for the support, Dan, and thanks also for mentioning what had to be
mentioned in this connection:

Another example of this is the oft-noted etymological relationship between
the two "diek-words" in English: "ditch" and "dike.

Mark:

Ron doesn't half make one feel redundant sometimes. Luc is also pretty
baddd.
*
Ouch!*

Cheerio!

Reinhard/Ron
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