CHAT: long sounds (was: Our opinions of what can be called 'winter')
| From: | J. 'Mach' Wust <j_mach_wust@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, December 29, 2004, 10:38 |
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On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 21:59:43 +0100, taliesin the storyteller
<taliesin-conlang@...> wrote:
>"Dyne" derives from norse "dúnn" [du:n:],
I'm surprised! I had read that Scandinavian tongues allowed either long
vowel + short consonant or short vowel + long consonant, but not long vowel
+ long consonant!
>which then meant light, flimsy
>fluffy stuff (the fill in the dyne) but which now only means "down" as
>in eiderdown.
>
>> Perhaps the standard assumption is wrong and a Norwegian word somehow
>> managed to sneak into Australian English. Which would be quite a feat,
>> unless it was a Norwegian trademark.
>
>If the Germans got it from norse and you got it from the Germans...
According to the etymology Duden, both English _down_ (as in _eiderdowns_)
and German _Daune_ are Scandinavian loans.
gry@s:
j. 'mach' wust
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