Re: /S/ in old and middle High German; was: Vikings
| From: | Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, November 24, 2004, 17:25 |
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Henrik Theiling wrote:
> .....
> - In Modern Dutch, it is
> /s/ in |duits| /d8Yts/ 'German' and
> /sx/ in |schip| /sxIp/ 'ship'
>
I've always assumed that Engl. "skipper" was < Du. "schipper" '~ship's
owner, captain'; while "ship" is the native development, and "skiff" must
then be a Scand. borrowing. IIRC Engl. was borrowing actively from Du.
(especially maritime terms) in the 16-17th C. (note also the Du/Amer. names
Schuylkill, Schermerhorn, pronounced with [sk-])-- which suggests either (1)
Du. still had [sk-] in that era or (2) Engl. speakers simply (mis)heard Du.
[sx-] as if it were [sk].
"Duits" is of course a modern spelling, revised sometime in the 20th C; the
19/early 20C sources I used still had -sch in such forms; duitsch;
spaansch(e), visch, bosch (now spaans, vis, bos etc.).
I wonder when the pronunciation actually changed.
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