Consolidating Some Word Histories
These are some word histories from previous blogs that I've done, but that I've now deleted. The reason I decided to delete these actual blogs is that they contained links to news articles I posted, but those news articles are no longer available to anyone clicking on the link; that is, they have expired; thus the reason for the blog is gone, too, but I didn't want to get rid of the "word histories," as they have proven very popular with some people, and even some of the older blogs with the word histories continue to be read for the "words" alone. So, on occasion, you may see a reference to another blog in some of these "words," and now you'll know why. This will probably take some time for me to actually go through everything, so this is just the FIRST consolidation of a few "words" from deleted blogs.
SHEEP-From West Germanic "skaepan." Old Saxon (the Saxon that stayed on the Continent)had "scap," pronounced, I believe, as if in modern spelling "shap," with a short "a," as in "father." Old Frisian, another West Germanic dialect VERY close to English, had "skep." In Old English it was "sceap," with a long "e" and a barely detectable "a." It was also spelled "scep," with a long "e," and pronounced pretty much like we pronounce it today, so obviously that is the pronunciation that caught on and remained. In modern times in the close relatives of English, German has "Schaf" and Dutch has "schaap." There is speculation that the word could be related to the modern German verb "schaffen," which means "to create." The original idea being that a sheep was simply "a creature," but that is unproven at this time. It is not found in North Germanic or East Germanic (there are no East Germanic languages still "living;" that is, still in use.)
HOUND-This came from Old Germanic "khundas," and was derived from Indo European "kuntos." The inital "k" sound died out in Germanic, leaving Old English with "hund," and this was the general word for dog for many centuries until it took on the more specific meaning of a hunting dog. German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish have "hund," and Dutch has "hond." In these Germanic relatives of English, the word still means "dog" in the general sense. So where did we get dog? Hey, don't "hound" me about it!
DOG-So where do we get the word "dog?" No one knows!!! And such a common word! It began to replace "hund/hound" as the general word for this animal, but this wasn't complete until the 1500s. Other languages seem to have borrowed it into their own vocabularies: for example, French has "dogue," meaning "mastiff," Swedish has "dogg," meaning "bulldog," and German has "Dogge," meaning large dog/mastiff." Was this word perhaps an Old English invention or even a transfer of meaning from a similar word, like Old English "docca," or "dock," which meant the cropped tail of an animal? (We still to this day say, "If you're late for work one more time, I'll "dock" your pay!") There's no written evidence of "dog" until like the 11th Century when "docga" appears in English, but it is always possible that the common people used the word, or some form of it, but because few could read or write, it wasn't written down until later.
GRAPE-Since I gave the history of "berry," and it originally meant "grape," I thought I'd better give the history of "grape." Old Germanic had "krappon," which meant "hook." It is also the source of our modern English word, "grapple," as in "grappling hook." Frankish, one of the old Germanic dialects, had a form of this word, and as the Franks were absorbed into the population of what is now France (named after the Franks), the word remained in French (named after the Frankish dialect), and was used to mean "pick or gather fruit from a vine," in the verb sense, or "the hook used to gather fruit from a vine," in the noun sense. Eventually, the word in Old French came to mean a "bunch of grapes," not just one grape, a notion that came later. English picked up the word in the 1200s, and it gradually replaced the native English words for grape, "berie," and "winberige," leaving "berry" to become the word for other types of fruit in English. Old High German had "krapfo," (hook) and German has the archaic "Krapf," which means hooks. I DON'T know this to be a fact, but I'll GUESS that the modern German "Krapfen," which means "doughnut," was a derivative, and because doughnuts have holes, they get "hooked" from the cooking vat, and the process gave the name to the final product.
SHEEP-From West Germanic "skaepan." Old Saxon (the Saxon that stayed on the Continent)had "scap," pronounced, I believe, as if in modern spelling "shap," with a short "a," as in "father." Old Frisian, another West Germanic dialect VERY close to English, had "skep." In Old English it was "sceap," with a long "e" and a barely detectable "a." It was also spelled "scep," with a long "e," and pronounced pretty much like we pronounce it today, so obviously that is the pronunciation that caught on and remained. In modern times in the close relatives of English, German has "Schaf" and Dutch has "schaap." There is speculation that the word could be related to the modern German verb "schaffen," which means "to create." The original idea being that a sheep was simply "a creature," but that is unproven at this time. It is not found in North Germanic or East Germanic (there are no East Germanic languages still "living;" that is, still in use.)
HOUND-This came from Old Germanic "khundas," and was derived from Indo European "kuntos." The inital "k" sound died out in Germanic, leaving Old English with "hund," and this was the general word for dog for many centuries until it took on the more specific meaning of a hunting dog. German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish have "hund," and Dutch has "hond." In these Germanic relatives of English, the word still means "dog" in the general sense. So where did we get dog? Hey, don't "hound" me about it!
DOG-So where do we get the word "dog?" No one knows!!! And such a common word! It began to replace "hund/hound" as the general word for this animal, but this wasn't complete until the 1500s. Other languages seem to have borrowed it into their own vocabularies: for example, French has "dogue," meaning "mastiff," Swedish has "dogg," meaning "bulldog," and German has "Dogge," meaning large dog/mastiff." Was this word perhaps an Old English invention or even a transfer of meaning from a similar word, like Old English "docca," or "dock," which meant the cropped tail of an animal? (We still to this day say, "If you're late for work one more time, I'll "dock" your pay!") There's no written evidence of "dog" until like the 11th Century when "docga" appears in English, but it is always possible that the common people used the word, or some form of it, but because few could read or write, it wasn't written down until later.
GRAPE-Since I gave the history of "berry," and it originally meant "grape," I thought I'd better give the history of "grape." Old Germanic had "krappon," which meant "hook." It is also the source of our modern English word, "grapple," as in "grappling hook." Frankish, one of the old Germanic dialects, had a form of this word, and as the Franks were absorbed into the population of what is now France (named after the Franks), the word remained in French (named after the Frankish dialect), and was used to mean "pick or gather fruit from a vine," in the verb sense, or "the hook used to gather fruit from a vine," in the noun sense. Eventually, the word in Old French came to mean a "bunch of grapes," not just one grape, a notion that came later. English picked up the word in the 1200s, and it gradually replaced the native English words for grape, "berie," and "winberige," leaving "berry" to become the word for other types of fruit in English. Old High German had "krapfo," (hook) and German has the archaic "Krapf," which means hooks. I DON'T know this to be a fact, but I'll GUESS that the modern German "Krapfen," which means "doughnut," was a derivative, and because doughnuts have holes, they get "hooked" from the cooking vat, and the process gave the name to the final product.
Labels: English, etymology, Germanic languages
posted by Randy at 11:17 AM
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