Dutch surnames
| From: | Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, April 7, 2009, 13:55 |
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Den 7. apr. 2009 kl. 14.00 skreiv Benct Philip Jonsson:
>
> FWIW _kofot_ is only 'crowbar' in Swedish. The hoof
> of a cow is _klöv_, which is an ablaut derivation of
> _clave[^1]_. Christophe's surname sounds like the
> nickname of the patriarch of a fairy-tale robber band!
> (And of course St. Christopher was originally a robber!! :-)
The surname Kofoed is not uncommon in Norway/Denmark. In Norwegian,
the name for the tool is 'kubein' or, more commonly nowadays,
'brekkjern'.
> [^1]: _cleave_ from PIE *gleubh- has both a strong
> inflection _clove, cloven_ and a class I weak
> _cleft, cleft_, while _cleave_ from *gleibh- is
> only class II weak _cleaved, cleaved_ -- i.e.
> regular in modern English terminology. You learn
> something every day!
Didn't know English had this cognate of Norw. 'klebe'. BTW, Webster
says it has alternative inflections _clove_ and even _clave_ as well.
LEF
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