Re: USAGE: Dutch v or f (was: Grimm's Law)
| From: | Maarten van Beek <dungeonmaster@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, April 24, 2002, 7:12 |
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> Van: daniel andreasson
> Onderwerp: Re: Dutch v or f (was: Grimm's Law)
>
> There's a Swedish word _fock_ meaning 'fore-sail, jib'. It
> is said to originally have meant 'wedge'. And I can see how
> 'wedge' have come to mean 'fuck' and then 'fokken'. :)
Yes, and traditionally, on western european ships, the jib is a triangularly
shaped sail, as opposed to the square-shaped mainsail. Nowadays, we have
triangular mainsails as wel ("torenzeil" in Dutch) besides the square
mainsails ("gaffelzeil" in Dutch). And since a wedge is also triangular in
shape...
Maarten