Re: Baby/infant
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, August 22, 2006, 22:30 |
|---|
On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:48:08 -0400, taliesin the storyteller
<taliesin-conlang@...> wrote:
> * caeruleancentaur said on 2006-08-22 22:26:40 +0200
>> I'm looking for a word for "baby/infant" in a natlang that has not
>> evolved from "indistinct speech" (baba > baby) or from "not speaking"
>> (in-fans > infant). Does anyone know of such?
>
> Norwegian "spedbarn", a baby prior to walking. I assume the "sped-" is
> the same as "sped" meaning simply "small, slight in size", but for all I
> know it might have something to do with truffles...
Is that -barn element a cousin of the Scots word "bairn"? ISTR it has
Scandinavian origins, and if unanalyzable seems to be another candidate.
Paul
Reply