Re: USAGE: Name adaptation (fuit: GSF revisited)

Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:

>
> BTW It's always strange to me when spellings that are
> clearly malformed in Latin, like _Dodge_ are preserved.
_Dodge_ is malformed from the _Classical_ Latin point of view, but
hardly from the Medieval point of view, at least in Britain and southern
Europe where _g_ before _e_ or _i_ had become pronounced /dZ/ - and this
pronunciation is still retained in the modern ecclesiastical
pronunciation. 'Dodgepolis'  is presumably /do'dZepolis/     :)

> I'd
> rather see _Dodex_ on the analogy of Judge :: Iudex! :-)
Umm - Dodicipolis?

While _judge_ is derived ultimately derived from _judice(m)_ via Old
French _juge_, _dodge_ has no such ancestry. In fact its etymology is
unknown.

> or at least _Dogius_,
That would have too much of a canine look to it for us anglophones - and
'Dogiopolis', when pronounced would surely make the city sound rather,
er, dodgy. 'Dodge' is one thing, but does the city deserve to be thought
'dodgy'?      ;)

So, what would you lot make of the town where I live - *Leatherhead*?

I have Germanized it occasionally as 'Lederkopf' for fun   :)

The modern spelling is due to folk etymology; until the late 19th
century the spelling _Letherhead_ was still used. Indeed, even the
inclusion of the _h_ is due to a piece of hypercorrection based on false
etymology sometime in the last two or three hundred years. The name is
actually derived from Old English _Léodridan_ (<-- léod "people" + *ride
"place suitable for riding, a ford") and is considered to relate to its
being the place where there was a ford across the River Mole. But many
consider that even the Old English is a folk etymology itself - the
Saxon trying to give meaning to an earlier British name *lēd-rïd "grey
ford" (which in Welsh would *Llwdryd)

So?

--
Ray
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ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
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Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB]