Re: Dutch surnames (scatological warning!)

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Schleitwiler, FCM" <pjschleitwilerfcm@...> wrote:
>
> If you look at a crowbar, you will notice the cloven end resembles
> a 'cow foot', which is probably how it came to be called so in some
> languages. The version 'Koevoets' as a family name may be a dialect
> variation. However, according to Answers dot com, 'koevoet' is a
> Nederlands term for 'crowbar'. One of the French terms is 'doe
> foot'.
This is from the Wikipedia article 'crowbar':
"The term refers to a cow's foot. In Danish a cow is a kue. In Norwegian a cow is
a ku. In Swedish a cow is called a ko and is pronounced "coo" like a dove sounds.
And a crowbar today in Swedish is a kofot….a "cow's foot." And one must mention
that the bar's pulling end [two fingers around a nail] resemble a cow's foot and
thus the English derivation of crowbar has nothing to do at all with the crow, but
with cows or a ko. Our crowbar is named after a cow's foot. This is the true
etymology of the word."

As far as I can tell the author hasn't explained the etymology of the English word
'crowbar' at all!  To say that 'crowbar' is named after a cow's foot means that an
"epenthetic" <r> has to be explained.

BTW, the AHD does link the word to "crow," supposedly because the fork at the end
of the tool resembles a bird's foot!  I would see a cloven hoof long before I saw
a three-toed bird's foot.

Charlie