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The Old Frisian component in Holthausen's Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Rolf H. Bremmer Jr
Rolf H. Bremmer Jr
Affiliation:
The University of Leiden
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Extract

The publication of the first fascicule of the Toronto Dictionary of Old English bears witness to the fulfilment of many vows made at symposia in the past. One of these was to abandon the practice of Bosworth—Toller of providing entries with etymological information. To meet trie objections raised against this policy at the second DOE conference in 1970, Christopher Ball assured the audience that entries would contain etymological information only if it would be impossible to establish the meaning of a word otherwise. ‘Frivolous’ etymology, as Ball termed it, such as linking OE fōt to Latin pedem, would be omitted. The editors of DOE will have been confirmed in their attitude by the fact that in those years Dr Alfred Bammesberger announced a plan for a new etymological dictionary for Old English. Since then, besides numerous articles, he has published a volume of Beiträge Zu einem etymologischen Wörterbuch des Altenglischen. In the preface to this book, Bammesberger stresses that the preparation of such a new dictionary is a project which will not be completed in the immediate future. So, for the time being, the comparist will have to make do with BT and Ferdinand Holthausen's etymological dictionary of Old English. This seems an appropriate time, therefore, to focus our attention on that component of Holthausen's dictionary which concerns the closest relative of English, (Old) Frisian: not least because Holthausen himself devoted so much attention to it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 17 , December 1988 , pp. 5 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

1 The Dictionary of Old English: D, ed. Cameron, A. et al. (Toronto, 1986).Google Scholar

2 Bosworth, J. and Toller, T.N., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford, 1898); T.N. Toller, Supplement (Oxford, 1921) (henceforth BT). A. Campbell's Enlarged Addenda and Corrigenda (Oxford, 1972) discontinued BT's practice in this respect.Google Scholar

3 Frank, R., ‘The Dictionary of Old English Conference’, A Plan for the Dictionary of Old English, ed. Frank, R. and Cameron, A. (Toronto, 1973), p. 7.Google Scholar

4 Ibid. p. 7, n. 5.

5 Anglistische Forschungen I 39 (Heidelberg, 1979).

6 Beiträge, p. v: ‘Mit einem Abschluss dieses langwierigen Unternehmens ist in absehbare Zeit noch nicht zu rechnen.’

7 Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd edn (Heidelberg, 1963) (henceforth AeW).

8 OnHolthausen, F. (1860–1956), particularly with respect to Frisian studies, see H.T.J. Miedema, Paedwizers fan de Fryske Filology (Leeuwarden, 1961), pp. 241–5.Google Scholar

9 AeW, p. vii.

10 Ibid.

11 Altfriesisches Wörterbuch (Heidelberg, 1925) (henceforth Afr.Wb.), p. v.

12 Afr.Wb., p. viii.

13 Originally, the compilation of this dictionary was begun in Germany; see De Eerste Emsinger Codex, ed. Sipma, P., Oudfries(ch)e Taal- en Rechtsbronnen (henceforth OTR) 4 ('s-Gravenhage, 1943), viii. However, after the Second World War the project was started afresh in GroningenGoogle Scholar; see Sjölin, B., ‘Het Grote Oudfriese Woordenboek: terugblik, balans, problematiek’, Us Wurk 21–22 (1972–1973), 193–206, at 193. For a detailed account of theGoogle Scholar history of Old Frisian lexicography until 1925, see Hofmann, D., ‘Die Erschliessung des altfriesischen Wortschatzes’, Philologia Frisica Anno 1969 (Grins/Groningen, 1970), pp. 100–14, at 101–4. For a general bibliography of Frisian lexicography, including that of Old Frisian, seeGoogle ScholarClaes, F. et al. , ‘A Bibliography of Frisian Dictionaries’, Us Wurk 33 (1984), 1–24, and R.H. Bremmer, Jr, ‘Additions and Corrections to F. Claes’ Bibliography'Google Scholar, Ibid. 100–2.

14 Ahlsson, L.-E., Die altfriesische Abstraktbildungen (Uppsala, 1960), for example, contains a third more abstract nouns than Afr.Wb.; cf. Hofmann, ‘Erschliessung’, p. 113, andGoogle ScholarKöbler, G., Altfriesisch-neuhochdeutsches und neuhochdeutsches-altfriesisches Wörterbuch, Arbeiten zur Rechts- und Sprachwissenschaft 22 (Giessen, 1983), v.Google Scholar

15 (Heidelberg, 1985). For an evaluation of the present state of Old Frisian lexicography, see my ‘De wyn en de sekken: resint wurk op it med fan de Aldfryske leksikografy’, Tydskrift foar Fryske Taalkunde 3 (1987), 60–8.

16 Beiträge, p. 4.

17 Old English and the Continental Germanic Languages. A Survey of Morphological and Phonological Interrelations, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 33, 2nd edn (Innsbruck, 1985), 257; for the Forschungsgeschichte concerning Anglo-Frisian, see pp. 40–7 and Bremmer, R. H. Jr, ‘Old English – Old Frisian: the Relationship Reviewed’, Philologia Frisica Anno 1981 (Leeuwarden, 1982), pp. 79–90, at 79–81.Google Scholar

18 ‘Beiträge zur nordseegermanischen und nordseegermanischen-nordischen Lexicographie’, Niederdeutsche Mitteilungen 19–21 (1963–5), 281–345; 22 (1966), 39–65; 23 (1967), 11–61; and 25 (1969), 25–39. See also, e.g., Lerchner, G., Studien zum nordwestgermanischen Wortschatz (Halle am Saale, 1965) andGoogle ScholarMunske, H.H., Der germanische Rechtswortschatz im Bereich der Missetaten; Philologische und sprachgeographische Untersuchungen I: Die Terminologie der älteren westgermanischen Rechtsquellen (Berlin and New York, 1973).Google Scholar

19 Bremmer, ‘Old English – Old Frisian’, pp. 83–5.

20 Wokatsch, W., Archiv 168 (1935), 103–5, at 105.Google Scholar

21 Hofmann, D., ‘Das altfriesische Wortpaar flêta und fleia/fleina “wegschaffen, beiseite schaffen”’, Miscellanea Frisica. A New Collection of Frisian Studies, ed. Århammar, N. et al. (Assen, 1984), pp. 79–87.Google Scholar

22 Bremmer, R. H. Jr, ‘Old English feoh and feorh, Old Norse fé ok fjor, ergo: Old Frisian fiā and ferech “money and life”‘, Us Wurk 32 (1983), 55–62.Google Scholar

23 De Eerste Riustringer Codex, ed. Buma, W.J., OTR 11 ('s-Gravenhage, 1961), 204 (s.v. joldfretho and joldskipi).Google Scholar

24 Hall, J. R. Clark, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th edn with supplement by H. D. Meritt (Cambridge, 1960). Meritt's supplement is the only difference between the third and the fourth editions.Google Scholar

25 Venezky, R. L. and Healey, A. diPaolo, A Microfiche Concordance to Old English (Toronto, 1980).Google Scholar

26 Die ‘Fivelgoer’ Handschrift, I: Einleitung und Text, ed. Sjölin, B., OTR 12 ('s-Gravenhage, 1970),182–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27 Schiller, K. and Lübben, A., Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch 11 (Bremen, 1876), s.v. Keye, keyge ‘Wurfspiess oder Speer’;Google ScholarCordes, G., Mittelniederdeutsches Handwörterbuch 11 (Neumünster, 1965), s.v. keye (keyge) ‘Kieselstein’. Both dictionaries give the same illustration, of which Cordes's translation is to be preferred. On this Anglo-Frisian isogloss, see also Löfstedt, ‘Beiträge’, p. 316, andGoogle ScholarMarkey, T. L., ‘NFris Kūch, English “key”, and the Unshifted Consonant Question’, Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik 46 (1979), 41–55.Google Scholar

28 It should also be noted that Holthausen treated the Latin loans in a cavalier fashion. As often as not, he provided such words with other Germanic cognates, which has resulted in an obliteration of the relative chronology of the Latin loans in Old English. Some examples where Frisian has similarly borrowed from Latin, but which Holthausen failed to record, are: OE force, OFris forke ‘fork’; OE līne, OFris līne ‘line, rope’; OE æle, OFris ele ‘oil’; OE , OFris pāl ‘pole’; and OE ungel, OFris ungel ‘fat, tallow’.

29 Buma, W.J., ‘Wurdsneuperijen 8. ljirre’, Us Wurk 7 (1958), 23–4; see alsoGoogle Scholarten Cate-Silfwerband, R.B., Vlees, Bloed en Been. Synoniemvergelijkend onderzoek van drie Germaanse woordformaties (Assen, 1958), pp. 120 and 124. She is unaware, however, of the Frisian and Dutch cognates of OE līra.Google Scholar

30 See Onions, C. T.; The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Oxford, 1966); andGoogle ScholarHoad, T. F., The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Oxford, 1986).Google ScholarSeebold, E., Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starke Verben (The Hague and Paris, 1970), p. 240, is also unaware of the parallel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31 Droege, G. B., ‘OE grindan – OFris *grinda ‘to grind’: an English–Frisian Isogloss within Germanic’, Us Wurk 24 (1975), 12–18.Google Scholar

32 Löfstedt (‘Beiträge’, p. 60) also points out a possible Scandinavian cognate.

33 von Richthofen, K., Altfriesisches Wörterbuch (Göttingen, 1840), p. 1138, s.v. wonfelle.Google Scholar

34 Buma, W.J., ‘Noardfrysk deaski “dwêste”’, Us Wurk 7 (1958), 72. A. Bammesberger (Deverbative jan- Verba des Altenglischen (Munich, 1965), pp. 62–3), doubts whether OE should be linked to OE dwīnan, as is suggested by Holthausen.Google Scholar

35 See e.g. de Vries, J., Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek (Leiden, 1971), s.v. bogen.Google Scholar

36 De Vries, Woordenboek, s.v. boenen; for the Frisian word, see Stapelkamp, C., ‘Wurdboekstúdzjes 2. benwispen’. Us Wurk 2 (1953). 41–2.Google Scholar

37 Beiträge, p. 63. Seebold, Wörterbuch, does not mention the verb.

38 Buma, W.J., ‘Wurdsneuperijen 23. Skierm. galm’, Us Wurk 11 (1962), 5–8; see alsoGoogle ScholarSpenter, A., Der Vokalismus der akzentuierten Silben in den Schiermonnikooger Mundart. Eine geschichtliche Studie des autochthonen westfriesischen Inseldialekts (Copenhagen, 1968), p. 70, n. 320, who demonstrates that the a in galm reflects a regular feature in the Schiermonnikoog dialect, theGoogle Scholar lowering of e to a before l. Buma had argued that OE gielm descended from IE *ghel-, and Fris galm from IE *ghol-.

39 See Munske, Der germanische Rechtswortschatz, § 208.

40 R. His, Das Strafrecht der Friesen im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1901), p. 319, n. 7: ‘Die Form blodielene… ist blosser Schreibfehler (frdl. Mitteil. von Prof. [Th.] Siebs).’ Hofmann, in his revision of Holthausen's Afr.Wb., is of the same opinion (see p. 154).

41 Jus Municipale Frisonum, ed. Buma, W. J. and Ebel, W., Altfriesische Rechtsquellen 6.2 (Göttingen, 1977), no. xxiii.6; the reference to OE tōgelan is to be found in Buma's unpublished glossary to jus, p. 90. Regrettably, this voluminous glossary of over 700 pages had a very limited imprint and circulation, and is not for sale. It can be consulted at the Frisian Institute of the University of Groningen.Google Scholar

42 Holthausen's reference to OHG gellōn (AeW, p. 421) is out of place here. OHG gellōn, w.vb. 2 ‘mucken, in winselndem Tone vortragen’ (see Starck, T. and Wells, J.C., Althochdeutsches Glossenwörterbuch (Heidelberg, 1975), p. 196) is cognate to OE giellan, st. vb. 3; see Seebold, Wörterbuch pp. 222–3.Google Scholar

43 Beiträge, p. 93.

44 As pointed out by Löfstedt, ‘Beiträge’, p. 33.

45 Bammesberger, A., ‘Zur Herkunft von ae. und andrysne’, BDGSL 99 (1977), 206–12; see also his Beiträge, p. 38, andGoogle ScholarPogatscher, A., ‘Etymologisches’, Beiblatt zur Anglia 14 (1903), 181–5, at 182–5.Google Scholar

46 Afr.Wb., p. 17.

47 Old English, ch. 3. The contents of this chapter have been conveniently summarized by the same author, ‘Old Frisian and the Old English Dialects’, Us Wurk 30 (1981), 49–66.

48 I should like to thank Patrick Styles for his valuable comments on a draft of this paper, David Pelteret and Henk and Christine van Halen for hospitality, and especially my brother Marius, sinces brytta.