LL-L "Etymology" 2009.06.26 (04) [EN]

[Lowlands-L List]

===========================================
L O W L A N D S - L - 26 June 2009 - Volume 04
lowlands at lowlands-l.net - http://lowlands-l.net/
Encoding: Unicode (UTF-08)
Language Codes: lowlands-l.net/codes.php
===========================================

From: Andy Eagle <andy at scots-online.org>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2009.06.25 (04) [EN]

Ron wrote:

 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.

I have a feeling there are quite a few Low Saxons loans from the Hanseatic
era. In etymologies they tend to be lumped together under (Middle) Dutch.

 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!*

DOST indicates that 'coft' came to be used commonly from around 1500. How
does that fit in with the Low Saxon pronunciation of the time?

Andy

----------

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

I have a feeling it fits, e.g. Middle Saxon:

*Dit is, wat ik **in de molen koft hebbe ...*
(This is what I *have bought* in the mill ...)

*... en man hadde acker koft ...*
(... and they *had bought* some agricultural land ...)
[Gadebusch Register 1451]

*... dat se dat gud vmme rede gelt koft hebben ...*
(... that they *had bought* the estate with cash ...)
[document from London's Steelyard (1303-1469]

So, **Koft!* for ("Bought!" =) "Deal!" seems entirely possible.

Around the same time *gekoft* occurs also, which seems to indicate that the
past participial prefix *ge-* was fading away in certain northern dialects.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

==============================END===================================

 * Please submit postings to lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org.

 * Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.

 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.

 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l")

   are to be sent to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org or at

   http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html.

*********************************************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20090626/5654317b/attachment.htm>