pinkie and pwenkwe (was: Re: fingers)

Hello, everyone, thanks for writing.

About the term "pinkie" for the smallest or fifth finger of the hand,
Ingmar Roerdinkholder asks:  'This "pink", would it mean something
like "the fifth (finger)", from IndoEuropean *penkwe, *pinkwe or so =
five?'

I like this idea.

I am aware it is probably not true.  That makes me like it more for
some purposes -- I am usually partial to fiction when on this conlang
list; if I weren't, I would spend more time on an auxlang list or
sci.linguistics or whatever.

---
Tom H.C. in MI

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Ingmar Roerdinkholder
> <ingmar.roerdinkholder@W...> wrote:
> Is "pinky" American English? In that case it's likely to be derived
from
> Substandard colloquial Dutch "pinkie", Standard Dutch "pinkje",
dim. of
> "pink".
>
> This "pink", would it mean something like "the fifth (finger)",
from
> IndoEuropean
> *penkwe , *pinkwe or so = five ?
>
> Ingmar
>
> > Well, English has "pinky" which seems like it's
> > related to Dutch "pink".
> >
> > ~ Elliott
> >
> > --- Ingmar Roerdinkholder
> > <ingmar.roerdinkholder@W...> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> In Dutch we use the following names:
> >>
> >> vinger(s) = finger(s)
> >> teen, pl tenen = toe(s)
> >>
> >> duim = thumb
> >> wijsvinger
> >> middelvinger
> >> ringvinger
> >> pink
> >>
> >> For toes, only : grote teen & kleine teen.
> >>
> >> So, the Dutch names are quite similar to the German
> >> ones, except for
> >> <pink> in stead of *kleine vinger. I think all other
> >> Germanic languages
> >> have the equivalent of "little finger".
> >> btw <wijsvinger> means the same as Zeigefinger,
> >> namely pointing finger.
> >
>
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Yahoo! Mail Mobile
> > Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone.
> > http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail
> >