Re: Intergermansk - Three Rings

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 02:49:36 +0000, Stephen Mulraney
<ataltanie@...> wrote:

>As for the German words "dunkel" and "Herr", I can't think of English
>cognates at the moment. Are there any still around? "Dunkel" doesn't
>sound too different from "dark" anyway, especially if we exclude the
>"-el" ending. Oh, just noticed: Pascal says it's cognate to "dusk".
"Herr" derives from an original comparative *he:riro (though in Old High
German it was already he(:)rro) of the adjective he:r, which is still found
in German _hehr_ and in English _hoar_. It comes from a Germanic root
_haira_ 'gray', related to an IE root *kei- (with a downward bow over the k)
that denoted dark colourings.

According to the etymological Duden, the word _dunkel_ is related to the
root found in _damp_ from IE *dhem[@]- 'stieben (to scatter?), rauchen (to
smoke), wehen (blow/waft)'. Merriam-Webster online doesn't relate the word
_dusk_ to this root, but it kind of reluctantly mentions Old English _dust_,
seemingly identical with modern English _dust_ which originates from the
root *dheu-, dheu_^@- 'stieben (to scatter?), wirbeln (to whirl), blasen (to
blow); rauchen (to smoke), dampfen (to steam); in heftiger Bewegung sein (to
be in intense movement)' the same root of Latin _fumus_.

kry@s:
j. 'mach' wust