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From: aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: False cognates (sequel)
Message-ID: <737@mcvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 5-Jul-85 20:20:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: mcvax.737
Posted: Fri Jul  5 20:20:32 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 11-Jul-85 05:28:08 EDT
References: <277@mit-athena.UUCP> <736@mcvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer)
Distribution: net.nlang
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 27

In article <736@mcvax.UUCP> I wrote

> What about the Danish kalde 'to call' ?

I was interrupted, and ended up saying almost the opposite of what
I intended to say. The false etymology is not that the English "call"
and the Danish "kalde" are unrelated, but that these related germanic
words are unrelated to that Latin "calare" 'to call out' and the Greek
kaleo 'to call, to convoke'.
[In fact a cognate of these latter words exists in English:
"to low" 'to moo' (sound production of cows) - the Latin c- becomes h-
in germanic, as in old English "hlowan" > modern English "to low".
Dutch has "loeien". German has "hallen" 'to (re)sound'.]
{ Don't flame if your favorite etymological dictionary says otherwise;
  I have correspondences in dozens of languages to show that e.g.
  Partridge is wrong when he says "to low - clearly echoic" and
  "to call - the relationship to Latin calare is obscure but extremely
  probable". }


Having made clear what I wanted to say in the previous note, let me
add another common (in Holland) false etymology. Dutch has "woud"
'forest, wood', but "woud" and "wood" are unrelated. In fact "woud"
belongs to the family of German "Wald" and English "wold" (with slightly
different meaning), just like Dutch "oud" corresponds to German "alt" and
English "old". On the other hand, the English "wood" is related to the
Danish "ved" 'timber'.