Re: OT: onomatopoiesis
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Wednesday, June 20, 2001, 23:05 |
|---|
Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> But because of the onomatopoeic quality of the name, it has been
> remade as "coucou" to refer to the bird, while "cocu" stayed to be used for
> humans.
English uses "cuckoo" /kuku/ for a type of bird. I wonder if it's the
same species?
Anyhoo, that reminds me of the colloquial "teeny" /tini/ as a variant of
"tiny" (/tajni/), because of the small connotations of /i/. Of course,
before the Great Vowel Shit, "tiny" was /tini/, thus the onomatopoeic
connotations of /i/, in effect, reversed a change! :-)
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42
Reply