Re: /S/ in old and middle High German; was: Vikings

Joe scripsit:

> 'skiff' couldn't be a cognate of 'ship' - if it is, it shows a
> High-German sound shift.  Which did not occur in Scandanavia.
Indeed.  The presence of the p > f shift, but not the sk > S one, shows
that we are dealing with an Old High German loan, as Italian schifo
and Old French esquif confirm.  The former is older than the latter,
and it's not clear which one English "skiff" was borrowed from.

Various posters are, of course, quite right in calling _uncle_ a Romance
loan; I should have cited _egg_, as in the famous Caxton anecdote.  I was
drawing on a list (in my head, that is) of low-register borrowings not
usually suspected of such, and got confused.  Other French borrowings
in common use are _puppy_ (mostly displacing native _whelp_) and _brush_
(partly displacing native _broom_).

(The anecdote: "In so moche that in my dayes happened that certayn
marchauntes were in a shippe in Tamyse, for to haue sayled ouer the see
into Zelande, and for Iacke of wynde thei taryed atte Forlond, and wente
to lande for to refreshe them; And one of theym named Sheffelde, a mercer,
cam in-to an hows and axed for mete; and specyally he axyd after eggys;
And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude not speke no Frenshe. And
the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no Frenshe, but wolde
haue hadde egges, and she vnderstode hym not. And thenne at laste a
nother sayd that he wolde haue eyren; then the good wyf sayd that she
vnderstod hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges
or eyren. Certaynly it is harde to playse eueryman by cause of dyuersite
and chaunge of langage."  Notes: "Tamyse" = "Thames", "mete" = "food".)

--
I suggest you call for help,                    John Cowan
or learn the difficult art of mud-breathing.    jcowan@reutershealth.com
        --Great-Souled Sam                      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan