LL-L "Etymology" 2011.06.22 (05) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 22 June 2011 - Volume 05
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology



Dear Lowlanders,

Warning: Something fishy is up here.

Or: Sometimes obvious etymologies aren’t all that obvious at first.

*Torsk* is a common Nordic name for ‘cod’ (*Gadus morhua*). Icelandic and
Faroese preserve the Old Germanic form: *þorsk*.

In Low Saxon, and in extension in German, there is differentiation:
*Dorsch*denotes a juvenile cod, the adult version being called
*Kabeljau*.

Dutch calls all of them *kabeljauw*, and Afrikaans, not surprisingly, uses *
kabeljou* for both. French and Picard, among others, respectively developed
*cabillaud* and *cabio* from* **kabeljauw* (besides French having Romance *
morue* for the same). Estonian borrowed *kabeljoo* from Low Saxon but also
uses Scandinavian-derived *tursk* for the same (cf. Finnish *turska*).

The Romance languages use for all cods the following words (which remind of
words for “bachelor“):

   *Language*

*“cod”*

Castilian (“Spanish”)

bacalao [bakaˈlao]

Ladino (Judeo-Castilian)

bakanyado [bakaˈɲad̪ʊ]

Galician

bacallau [bakɐˈʎaʊ]

Portuguese

bacalhau [bakɐˈʎaʊ]

Catalan

bacallà [bəkəˈʎa]

Italian

(Catalan?)< baccalà [bakːaˈla]

Non-Romance Iberian:
Basque

bakailao (origin?)



What I had not realized until today is that *Kabeljau* and *kabeljauw* are
epenthetically rendered Romance loans (e.g. **bakalyao* > **kabalyao*). Wow!
I never considered that possibility. My guess is that it comes from Galician
*bacallau* or Portuguese *bacalhau*. Indeed, cod is a mainstay among
Galicians and Portuguese, linguistically and culturally very close relatives
of the Iberian Peninsula.



Footnotes:

   1. Scots has several words for “cod”: *cod* (dim. *coddie*), *cabelew* (*
   young* cod), *drowd* (cod of poor quality), *slink*, *soushler*, *stock
   fish*.
   2. The usual Kashubian word for “cod” is *pòmùchla* (as opposed to Polish
   *dorsz*). This seems to have inspired far-eastern Low Saxon *Pomuchel*,
   often used as a pejoratively based term of endearment.



Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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