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Re: CHAT: OE

From:bnathyuw <bnathyuw@...>
Date:Wednesday, July 31, 2002, 16:43
what does that say about the germans ? did their
ancesters have no windows that they had to borrow
fenster from latin ? ( or is it an amazing
coincidence, or indeed a latin borrowing from a
germanic word ? ! )

 --- John Cowan <jcowan@...> wrote: >

> Our word for "window" probably would have been > "eyethirl" or the like > if it hadn't been displaced by an Old Norse > borrowing. Evidently the > Old English thought of windows as primarily for > seeing through, whereas > the Old Norse thought of them as primarily devices > to let the air in. >
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Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>