Re: "royaume" vs. "realm"? (was: French for "Kingdom")

koartby skreau Nik Taylor:
>
> John Cowan wrote:
> > No, it's original, not a borrowing.  Borrowed "-ness" has replaced
> > it in many applications, like "holiness" (OE "halidom").
>
> -Ness is borrowed?!  Where'd it come from?
>
You're right: -ness is Germanic. It has a parallel in Frisian -ens
(with metathesis of the n): readens = redness.
Also Dutch -nis : belijdenis,
and interestingly: vergiffenis (forgiveness). (Frisian: ferjeffenis,
where -nis is preserved as a relic)
So the word is probably old.

Henno Brandsma