LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.04 (11) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  01 January 2008 - Volume 11
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From: Diederik Masure <didimasure at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.01.04 (06) [E]

>>>I guess we had (and retained) "folc" in various forms, and borrowed the
French "people" as a synonym.  Maybe "lede" just got redundant?  I don't
know if >>>Norse had any "lede"-like word, but they did have "folk"; if
English settles on a Germanic word it is often an Old English one reinforced
by Norse.  For >>>example we use "tree" rather than "beam" because ON and OE
had a version of the former.  Beam now only survives as a special meaning,
and in tree >>>names like Hornbeam.
>>>
>>>Paul Finlow-Bates

Both varieties of Norwegian still have this word preserved, although I have
to admit I never met it in the 2,5y I've been studying the language. Must
probably be archaic/poetical. I might have encountered it in the Nynorsk
translation of the Lord of the Rings though.
From the online dictionary:
*II lyd* m1 (norr *lýðr, ljóðr* 'folk', sm o s ty. *Leute* 'folk') samling
med mennesker, særl i sms [mainly in compounds, nvdr] *husl-, kirkel-,
møtel-*
and Nynorsk:
  *II lyd* m1 (norr *lýðr* og *ljóðr*; sm o s ty. *Leute* 'folk')    *1* folk,
forsamling, flokk, lag *festl-* / *kyrkjel-* / *møtel-* / *ungel-*
*2* husstand,
familie *husl-* / *han har ein stor l-* / *både i lag og l-* heime og borte
from which we (maybe) might conclude that it's still more frequently used in
Nynorsk. At least they give a more extensive explanation. A real
investigation of the frequency of this word in the scandinavian languages is
impossible though, as it is homophonous with the Norwegian word "lyd" which
means "sound" (ljódur in Icel., ljud in Sw)
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