LL-L "Etymology" 2008.10.21 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 21 October 2008 - Volume 01
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From: E Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.10.20 (09) [E]

Hi all,

Lucas, in Afrikaans we also have 'verdwyn' -  'to disappear'.

I've always found Chaucer (but also middle high German writings) easily
understood because of my knowledge of Afrikaans.

Elsie Zinsser

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

Luke *et al.*,

Last night you and I wrote:

Luke: Is it the case then that English just tends to put a (intrusive)
homorganic (voiced) stop after a nasal, and before the frequentive 'l'?
 Like 'crumb', 'crumble' (the 'b' only being in the noun by analogy)?  I
guess I just noticed that.


 Ron: I think you're right, Luke. If we really tried to we could probably
come up with a list of examples.

 Ron: Take for instance *tumble*, a frequentive derivative of Old English *
tumb-* (*tumbian*) 'to dance about'; related to German *tumelen* >
*taumeln*'to reel',
*tummeln* 'to mill about', Dutch *tuimelen* 'to tumble', Low Saxon *tummeln*~
*tümmeln* 'to mill about'. Since German has both a short and a long variant
and Dutch has one with a long vowel (u > ui), I believe that there was no *b
* there to begin with.


 But wait! There's more.

*mumble* < *mum* 'to do secretly or in disguise'; cf. Low Saxon *mümmeln*

*fumble* < ?, cf. Dutch *fommelen*, Low Saxon *fummelen* > *fummeln* >
German *fummeln*

*stumble* < Germanic **stam-*; cf. "stammer", German *stumm* 'silent' <
'dumb'

*bumble* < ?; cf. German, Low Saxon *bummeln *'to stroll', 'to tarry'

*bramble* < Old English *bræmbel *<* bræmel *< Germanic **bræmaz* 'thorny
bush' > "broom"; cf. Dutch *braam*, Low Saxon *Braam* 'Scotch broom', Low
Saxon *Brummelbeer* ~ *Brommelbeer* ~ *Brammelbeer*, German
*Brombeere*'blackberry', Low Saxon
*Brummeldoorn* ~ *Brommeldoorn* ~ *Brammeldoorn* 'bramble'

*gamble* < Middle English *gammlen* < Old English *gamen* 'play',
'amusement' > "game"; cf. Old German *gaman*, Old Norse* gaman*, Old Frisian
*game* 'joy', 'glee'

And here's an interesting one that is usually considered of obscure origin:

*kindle*
I connect it with Low Saxon* Kien* and German *Kien* (> *Kienholz*)
'kindling' < 'small, split-off piece of wood'; cf. Old English *cēn*; cf. *
cīnan* 'to split' (intr.); it then underwent semantic expansion to "to
kindle" in the sense of "to light (fire)", hence "kindling" being wood for
starting fire.

This one would be another case that shows that vowel shortening is required
in the use of frequentive *l* and intrusive *d*.

 Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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