Re: USAGE: Dutch v or f (was: Grimm's Law)

En réponse à Roger Mills <romilly@...>:

  IIRC
> one of
> the few without any known etymology in modern times is +ACI-gas+ACI-,
> Fr. +ACI-gaz+ACI-(?)
>
Well, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language gives the
following etymology for gas (http://www.bartleby.com/61/97/G0049700.html):

"Dutch, an occult physical principle supposed to be present in all bodies,
alteration of Greek khaos, chaos, empty space, coined by Jan Baptista van
Helmont (1577–1644), Flemish chemist."

So English gas (and French gaz, according to another definition I've seen in
this book) would be both borrowings from Dutch. The etymology seems precise and
well-documented, since it even gives the name of the person who would have
coined the word!

Funny that Dutch showed up there too :))) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

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