Re: R: Re: English oddities

On Thu, 13 Jul 2000, andrew wrote:

> Am 07/12 19:56  Lars Henrik Mathiesen yscrifef:
> > > Date:         Wed, 12 Jul 2000 13:43:25 +0200
> > > From: Mangiat <mangiat@...>
> >
>
> > > German has 'schön', Dutch 'schoon' (?). Where's the English cognate?
> > > Shouldn't it be 'shoon' (beautiful is from French)?
> >
> > Danish has skøn, too. But for Danish and Dutch I wouldn't rule out a
> > loan from German, however the word may have originated there. For
> > English, did you try looking up the etymology of shine and sheen?
> >
> According to Clark Hall the Englisc spelling of sheen was sci:ene.  It
> meant beautiful in that language too.
>
Schoon can mean beautiful in Dutch, too. Especially in Belgium. I
remember a barmaid saying to my mother 'Ge hebt schone kindekes,
mevrouw.' In standard Dutch the meaning is restricted to set situations
'schone jonkvrouwe'.

Boudewijn Rempt  | http://www.valdyas.org