Re: "hewed to"

Ray Brown skrev:

>>
>> I think they are totally mistaken.
>
>
> I agree.
>
>> Swedish has two
>> distinct words _klyva_ "cleave, cut along the length"
>> and _kliva_ "take a stride".  The rest is easy to figure.
>
>
> The two 'cleaves' are not the same in English, either.
>
> The one meaning 'to divide, separate, split with violence' ((<-- O.E.
> _cléofan_) is _transitive_ and is a either a _strong_  or 'mixed' verb:
> preterite _clove_ (archaic: _clave_) or _cleft_; past part. _cloven_ or
> _cleft_.
So the etymon of Swedish _klyva_, presumably *klufian is a
causative to the etymon of Old English _cléofan_ *klaufan,
and they make an ablaut pair.

> The other one, 'to stick, adhere' is _intransitive_ and _weak_: cleave,
> cleaved, cleaved (<-- O.E. _clifan_).
Strangely both Swedish verbs are strong, though in different
series (klyva - klöv - kluvit vs. kliva - klev - klivit)
although the latter may have been attracted to the strong
conjugation, just like the loan-word _skriva_ "write"
(from Latin _scribere_) which belongs to the same series
as _kliva_, unlike Icelandic where _skrifa_ is weak.
It seems the Icelandic cognate of _kliva_ is _klofa_
(*klufan, weirdly enough!) which is weak.

--

/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

         Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant!
                                             (Tacitus)

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