LL-L "Etymology" 2009.06.25 (04) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 25 June 2009 - Volume 05
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From: Andy Eagle <andy at scots-online.org>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2009.06.24 (01) [EN]

Ron wrote:

 I'm intrigued by the Scots verb *coff* 'to buy' (ealier also 'to trade'),
>
past tense *coft*.  An earlier variant of 'to buy' in Scots is *cofe*, with
a long /o/, for the nominal form of 'buy', 'purchase', 'trade', 'bargain'.

 Clearly it is related to words for 'to buy' in other Germanic languages.
> The
>
/f/ occurs in German *kauf-* and Yiddish *kouf- ~ koyf*, both meaning 'buy'.
Middle German has *kouf-*.

 According to the *Oxford English Dictionary*, *coff* is likely to come from
>
Middle Dutch *côp(en)*, namely from the past tense of older (and still
dialectical) Dutch *koft(e)* (now mostly *kocht(e)*) or the past participial
form, which however, would be *gekoft* (now *gekocht*).

 In Low Saxon, the past tense form of *kop(en)* is *köff ~ koff* and the
> past
>
participial form is *köft ~ koft* (Middle Saxon *gekoft* ~ *gecoft*).

 Of course it stands to reason that a Dutch connection be assumed,
>
considering Dutch shipping trade with Britain and Dutch-speaking immigration
to Britain, especially to Wales and Scotland. However, we mustn't forget
Saxon-speaking Hanseatic trade with the English and Scotland.

Apparently only the form coft was used originally, assumed to be from Middle
Dutch cofte the p.t. and p.p. of the v. copen, to buy. I imagine it was used
by Scots when haggling over the price of goods with Dutch (or Low Saxon)
traders, and when an acceptable price was mentioned, the Scots said 'coft'
i.e. 'bought' to let the seller know they had made a sale. It perhaps then
started to be used more widely as slang, eventually becoming part of the
general vernacular. Since many Scots verbs form the p.t and pp. with 't',
for example fuff > fufft, sauf > sauft, skiff > skifft, swarf > swarft, waff
> wafft etc., the back-formation 'coff' came about by analogy.

Andy

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

Thanks, Andy. That's useful.

I have a sneaking suspicion we are talking about Low Saxon contact here,
perhaps very late Hanseatic when in the everyday language of some dialects
the past participial prefix *ge-* began to be dropped.

The reason why I say this is because I don't think you use the past tense in
sealing a deal; you use the past participial, as in a different context in
English "Done!" rather than "Did!" In German you would expect
**Gekauft!*rather than *
*Kaufte!* to mean something like "Deal!"

So in (Late Middle) Dutch I would expect **Gekoft!* (> **Gekocht!*), in
colloquial Northern (Late Middle) Saxon **Koft! ~ ***Köft!*

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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