LL-L "Etymology" 2012.08.24 (05) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 24 August 2012 - Volume 05
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From: Hellinckx Luc luc.hellinckx at gmail.com
Subject: LL-L "Etymology"

Beste Lowlanders,

Skimming the netherworld, I stumbled across the lizard-family, Lacertilia
in Latin, hagedis in Dutch. Being somewhat akin to snakes and dragons, they
didn't immediately get pet-status and were all too often associated with
the devil. Maybe their venom had something to do with this, as even
scorpions tend to fear lizards. The Dutch word for "witch", "heks", and
English "hag" is actually a worn down form of "hagedis" (D), hægtesse (Old
English), of which the first element evolved to "hedge" (compare hawthorn)
and the second is cognate with Norwegian "tysja", a fairy.

The main reason of my interest lies in the names for this animal. In
Brabantish, we call them "slangeratits". "Slang" is pretty obvious, snake,
but that could be folk etymology as the name is "lagartija" in Spanish (~
lagarto). Forms like "artis", "aketisse", "lokketisse"...are also attested
in Southern Dutch. German "Eidechse" gets an -r- in Saarland dialects:
eideres, eidris, eiderets, etres..., so that comes pretty close to
"artis/artits/artisj" (metathesis).

Still I wonder though if Spanish "(la)gartixa/lagartija" may ever have
played a role in the formation of "slangeratits"? By the way, alligator =
el lagarto (de Indias).

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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

Interesting, Luc! Thanks!

Just to add to your data pool:

Afrikaans:

   - akkedis

Low Saxon (of the Netherlands):

   - Drenthe: eveltask, eveltasse, eveltas(t), evertaast, evertas(se)
   - Groningen: evertaske, heveltaske
   - Salland: èverdasse
   - Stellingwerven: eveltaske, evertaske
   - Twente: eveltasse, eawerdasse
   - Veluwe: eve(r)desse

Low Saxon (of Germany):

   - *Eerdlöper ~ Ierdläuper* ("earth walker/runner)
   - *Eerdkrüper ~ Eerdkruper* ("earth creeper")
   - *Adderditsch ~ Edderditsch ~ Eerditsch*
   - Oldenburg/Emsland: *Steert**üütz ~ Stiertü**ütz* ("tail(ed) toad")

Limburgish:

   - herdisse

Scots:

   - lizard
   - heather-esk
   - man-keeper (also means 'newt', 'water-lizard')

Luxemburgish:

   - Eidechs

Modern Standard German *Eidechse* [ˈaɪdɛksə] according to the *Duden*'s
etymology:

   - Middle High German: *egedehse*, *eidehse*
   - Old High German: *egidehsa*
   - Middle Dutch: *ēghedisse*
   - Old English: *aðexe*
   - Indo-European *ogu̯his- > **agi-* > Greek *όφις *(*όphis*) 'snake' (=
   'reptile'? RFH)?
   Old High German *dehsa* > Middle High German *dehse* 'spindle'?

Enriched or confused?

Intrusive ("epenthetic") or original *h-*?

Online Etymology dictionary:

> lizard "an animal resembling a serpent, with legs added to it" [Johnson],
> late 14c., lusarde, from Anglo-Fr. lusard, O.Fr. laisarde "lizard"
> (Mod.Fr. lézard), from L. lacertus (fem. lacerta) "lizard," of unknown
> origin, perhaps from PIE root *leq- "to bend, twist" [Klein].

Remember: this is only for starters!

You open a can? You'd better be able to deal the the worms emanating from
it, Bro!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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