Re: OT: Slang, curses and vulgarities

Steven Williams wrote:
>  --- "J. 'Mach' Wust" <j_mach_wust@...> schrieb:
>
>
>>Intensifiers that originate in the vulgar language
>>may become part of the
>>unmarked, educated standard one day, as has happened
>>e.g. in the German word
>>_sehr_ 'much': It's original meaning is still
>>preserved in English _sore_,
>>and there are some German dialect that still
>>preserve that use alongside the
>>standard German one.
>
>
> Wow, that's interesting! I was wondering where 'sehr'
> came from, or whether there were an English cognate,
> and it turns out to be 'sore'. That fits perfectly.
Dutch still has both uses:

Dit doet zeer. (This hurts)
een zere plek (a sore spot)
Dit is zeer goed. (This is very good)
Ik waardeer het zeer. (I appreciate it very much)

Afrikaans has "seer" at least in the meaning of sore/hurt. I guess it's
not used for very/much any more, since "baie" has taken over that meaning.

René