Re: VOCABULARY AID: Basic and Additional Vocabulary (topics 1 - 10)

Quoting John Cowan <jcowan@...>:

> Andreas Johansson scripsit:
>
> > For what's it's worth, the Big Dipper is _karlavagnen_ in Swedish, an
> archaic
> > formation meaning the "the waggon of Charles". The Charles in question has
> been
> > identified as Charlemagne; I do not know how certain this is.
>
> I find two theories: the Charlemagne one, and the idea that "Charles" is a
> corruption of "carles", meaning "freeman's" (or "churl's).
In Swedish, those are _Karl_ and _karl_, but despite the common spelling and
origin, they're pronounced differently, in my 'lect [kA:l`] and [kA:r\`]
respectively (the later being totally weird compared to the spelling).

(In modern language, _karl_ means "man, bloke", not necessarily a free one.)

                                                  Andreas

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