Low German Loan Words in English

Masarykova univerzita

Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Magisterská oborová práce

2011 Zuzana Malášková

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

Teaching English Language and Literature for

Secondary Schools

Zuzana Malášková

Low German Loan Words in English

Master’s Non-Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Václav Blažek, CSc.

2011

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently,

using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

……………………………………………..

Author’s signature

Content

Introduction ............................................................................................................................1

1. History and Development of English ...............................................................................3

2. Low German ...................................................................................................................8

2.1 Old Low Franconian .................................................................................................. 10

2.2 Old Saxon ................................................................................................................. 11

2.3 Middle Low German ................................................................................................. 12

2.4 Dutch ........................................................................................................................ 12

2.5 Flemish ..................................................................................................................... 14

2.6 Frisian ....................................................................................................................... 16

3. Contact between English and Low German ................................................................... 18

4. Low German Loanwords in English .............................................................................. 22

4.1 Loanwords from the 13th Century ........................................................................... 25

4.2 Loanwords from the 14th Century ........................................................................... 26

4.3 Loanwords from the 15th Century ........................................................................... 30

4.4 Loanwords from the 16th Century ........................................................................... 33

4.5 Loanwords from the 17th Century ........................................................................... 40

4.6 Loanwords from the 18th Century ........................................................................... 45

4.7 Loanwords from the 19th Century ........................................................................... 48

4.8 Loanwords from the 20th Century ........................................................................... 50

6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 51

Register ................................................................................................................................ 52

Primary Sources ................................................................................................................... 55

Secondary Sources ............................................................................................................... 55

List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................. 57

1

Introduction

According to the generally accepted and most spread view, Germanic languages are

genetically divided into three branches: East Germanic, Nord Germanic and West Germanic.

In this thesis the attention is focused on the West Germanic branch, specifically on those

languages in which the Second Sound Shift was not realized. The main aim of the thesis is to

discover, collect, describe and classify loanwords from these Germanic languages which were

taken into English. All these languages belong to the West Germanic branch, although

English has a specific position within this group due to its rather isolated development on the

British Isles, where it has been exposed to different influences than the remaining languages

on the continent.

The major division between English and other West Germanic languages occurred

after the Anglo-Saxons settled on the British Isles. After that English developed rather

independently of the other languages which are taken into account in this thesis; however,

despite its separation by the North Sea, the contact with its cognate continental languages has

never been interrupted, the language contact remained relatively stable and even though the

languages developed rather separately, there was still sufficient interaction (trade,

immigration, cooperation in wars and other foreign affairs), due to which these languages

were mutually influenced. In order to look more closely at the relationship of these languages,

I decided to focus on English etymology and search for those words which might be of Low

German (a) origin.

The thesis consists of six chapters: Introduction, the second one is devoted to the

description of development of the English language. The following chapter deals with Low

2

German, its definition and development and is further divided into subchapters describing

individual language varieties of Low German (a) which are considered a source language for

the English loanwords in this thesis. Further on in chapter three, the contact and mutual

influence between all the mentioned language varieties are described. The practical part of the

thesis is included in chapter four; it consists of a description of the findings which were made

on the basis of the list of loanwords from Low German (a). The list is divided according to the

centuries in which the borrowing entered English and alphabetically ordered. Each of these

lists is subsequently analysed, described and divided according to its semantic field.

3

1. History and Development of English

Prior to the 5th C, the British Isles were inhabited by Celts, Picts and Scots. The Celts

in particular were strongly influenced by Romans who controlled and developed a large part

of Britain from 43 AD until around 410 AD. At that time, Saxons who were settled in the

present North-Western Germany, Angles living in the Danish mainland and neighbouring

islands and Jutes coming from northern Denmark began to move to the British Isles.

(McIntyre 2009: 3-4). It is assumed that this migration lasted almost 200 years and during that

time they found a temporary home in the North-Western part of Europe (in the area of present

day Holland) where they mingled with the native Germanic tribe of which the Frisian were

probably the most powerful (Jellema 1955: 19). According to the English historian Venerable

Bede, the Jutes settled in Kent, on the Isle of Wight and on the opposite coast; the Saxons

found their new home in South England and between them we find the Angles. (Blažek: 59).

Although Anglo-Saxons came to the British Isles in disparate, unorganized groups

they soon established several kingdoms. There was by no means any unified variant of Old

English rather each of these kingdoms developed their own variety. The Jutes gave rise to the

Kentish dialect and Saxon used the West Saxon dialect and the Angles Mercian and

Northumbrian. (McIntyre 2009: 8-9) Every time one of the kingdoms managed to subjugate

its surrounding kingdoms, its variant became prestigious as the language of the winner. It is

therefore assumed that the language situation on the British Isles, as far as the differences of

individual dialects are concerned, did not differ profoundly from that on the continent where

the individual languages were also more or less intelligible. (Donaldson 1983: 87).

English language was exposed to the various influences of many languages, already in

the time prior to the Anglo-Saxon departure to the British Isles, their language was influenced

4

by Latin and it can be supposed that the other Germanic tribes with whom Anglo-Saxon had

come into contact on the continent also exerted some influence on the formation of English;

however, such an influence is almost impossible to trace, as there is virtually no or only very

scarce evidence (runic inscriptions) available from which the forms of the then Germanic

dialects could be determined. After the Anglo-Saxons settled down in present day Britain,

their language was influenced by the Celtic substrate which is not reflected in the word stock;

however, it is assumed that this influence might have been far stronger and expressed itself

rather on the morphological and syntactical level than on the lexicological level (Gelderen

2006: 91-2). Over the course the following centuries many languages participated in the

development of English, just to mention the most powerful: Latin, Old Norse and French.

In comparison with the above mentioned languages, the influence of Low German

may seem rather insignificant; however, if we look more closely at the history of both English

and Low German, we find out that there has been a continuous mutual relation between them

and that both of these languages were affected by mutual contact. The following paragraphs

describe the relevant periods of English history in which the contact with Low German

speaking people may have been the cause for lexical borrowing.

The embracing of Christianity brought literacy with it and also due to the spread of the

new religion, missions were undertaken. First from the continent to Britain, later on the

English participated in spreading the new religion into the Frisian territory where they

achieved more success than Franks which can be accounted to the fact that at that time,

English and Frisian were probably still mutually intelligible.

Another important factor for both mutual cultural and language exchange was the

trade. The first successful trade people were the Frisian about whom we suppose on the basis

5

of archaeological evidence that they were the predecessor of the latter Hanseatic League

(Jellema 1955). The Low Germans (b) with its latter centre in Lübeck began to take over their

role in the Carolingian period.

The beginning of the Middle English period is dated to approximately 1150, in this

period English was losing its flexion and conjugation and so gaining the features of an

analytical language (Gelderen 2006: 111). These changes had already been in progress in the

Old English period; however their acceleration might be accounted to Norman French who

conquered England and took over the important positions in the country together with

introducing Norman French as the means of communication in the court and administration.

English found its way back only in the 15th C, when it began to be used to strengthen the

national identity and create a larger distance between the English and their French enemies

during the Hundred Years’ War.

The Middle Age was characterised by numerous wars, while the 12th and 13th C were

the period of relative prosperity when the trade was based primarily on the export of wool to

Holland and Flanders. Due to the Great Famine and the Hundred Years’ War the trade with

the continent was limited and it also had an impact on the structure of the society – a huge

decrease of inhabitants resulted into a lack of workforce, therefore the position of this class

improved largely which came together with the increase in the popularity of English

(McIntyre 2009: 15).

The beginning of the Early Modern English, which is supposed to last from

approximately the 1500 to 1700, is marked with several important events: the Great Vowel

Shift, introduction of the printing press and the beginning of the colonial period which

brought with it increased language contact with other colonists from Europe and also with the

6

native inhabitant of the colonies. The necessity to name new realities which were encountered

in the newly conquered territories resulted in the broadening of the word stock.

The Early Modern Period witnessed the process of standardisation; the invention of

the printing press incited the need for a standardised spelling as the books were then created

in larger numbers than ever before and needed to be understood beyond the area of their

origin. There had already been some standard varieties in the Middle Ages (Central Midlands

Standard, Early London English and London English); however only after the invention of the

printing press such a standard (Chancery standard, the variety used by the royal court) might

spread profoundly together with the increasing level of peoples education as books became

affordable for the middle class too. (McIntyre 2009: 20-21).

England established itself as the greatest colonial power; they started with settling in

America where also the Spanish, French, Dutch and Portugal set up their colonies and the

English managed to force the other colonists out and gradually gained control over much of

the present day USA and Canada. Although the English became dominant, the settlers from

other countries did not leave the country, stayed and usually preserved their community

together with their language only gradually accepting English as the means of

communication. After the USA gained independence, a new standard of American English

was created.

In the course of the centuries, the English spread all over the world, they controlled

areas in Africa, Asia (India, Malaysia, Singapore), Australia and New Zealand. The colonies

were always a place of great linguistic diversity. Firstly, there met people from various parts

of England and their dialects mixed, then the contact with neighbouring settler of other

7

nationalities exerted influence on English together with the influence of the indigenous

inhabitants.

The industrial revolution had a large impact on the development of the present day

English. Prior to it, people lived for more generation in one area, but due to Enclosure Acts at

the beginning of the 18th C, they were forced to leave their rural way of life and move to

towns in search of work in factories. People from various regions met in the towns and their

individual dialects mingled and give rise to one more or less unified variant. This event

together with the efforts to standardise the language by means of creating dictionaries

(Samuel Johnson’s dictionary) and grammar books lead to development of Modern English

which still continues to develop. (McIntyre 2009: 28).

In the following centuries, the British enjoyed a huge economic prosperity possessing

colonies all over the world. Even in the 20th C, when their power began to decline as they

were losing their colonies abroad, it did not influence the position of the English language

which evolved into one of the world’s most widely used languages.

8

2. Low German

The term Low German is defined differently by various scholars, while the term

‘Niederdeutsch’ (reps. ‘Plattdeutsch’) in German usually designates the group of dialects

spoken in the northern part of Germany, the English conception of Low German includes also

dialects of Dutch and Flemish, Plattdeutsch also called continental Saxon being only part of

it. (Serjaentson 1935: 170). Frisian is also ranged to Low German, because the Second Sound

Shift was not realized in Frisian as well as in all the other above mentioned languages.

The realization or non-realization of the Second Sound Shift is considered the main

criterion for the division of the continental West Germanic languages in two wholes High

German and Low German comprising Frisian, Dutch, Flemish and Low German in a narrower

sense – for the purpose of this thesis always designated as Low German (b), while Low

German in a wider sense will be marked as Low German (a). The common model for the

division of Germanic languages in Fig. 1 likewise illustrates a wider and narrower conception

of ‘Low German’, the only difference between the definition of Low German used for the

purpose of this thesis is that it does not include English, as this was the language which

developed outside of the continental Europe and is therefore regarded as a counterpart to its

continental cognate languages.

Fig. 1 Division of Germanic languages (Blažek: 4).

9

In the earliest period, Low Countries were inhabited by many tribes about which we

know only little; scarce information being at our disposal was gained mainly from the

Romans who mention some Germanic tribes (Tubantes, Canninefates) living in the area of the

Low Countries when they came there around 55 BC. (Donaldson 1983: 85). In the Christian

era, the information about the Germanic peoples living in this area are more numerous, we

learn that Franks, Saxons and Frisian were the most powerful tribes who managed to establish

some kind of political organization and their languages served as a basis for the development

of Dutch and Flemish, in form of dialects Frankish, Saxon and Frisian are preserved until the

present days.

The following subchapters present a brief historical development of the Low German

(a) varieties which served or might serve as a source of borrowings in English. The attention

is paid primarily to the extra linguistic factors because they are especially important for the

determination of periods in which loanwords might be borrowed into English. If there has not

been any contact between the peoples, origins of the words might have been attributed to

other word formation processes than to borrowing or words might have been borrowed via

another language. Old Saxon and Old Frankish are included as the antecedents of Dutch and

Flemish and also due to the fact that their varieties were preserved as dialects until the present

day.

While the English language can be divided into Old, Middle, Early Modern and

Modern Period dated as indicated in the preceding chapter and it has written texts available in

for all of these periods, the situation in the area where Low German (a) was used is more

complex. For the oldest period, there are two main dialects, Old Saxon and Old Frankish, with

literary or administrative texts at our disposal and the oldest variety of Frisian language;

however, Frisian language had not been recorded until the 12th C so that there are no texts

10

available for comparison. Only during the Middle English period first texts in Dutch, Flemish

and Old Frisian appeared and only on their basis conclusions can be drawn as far as possible

borrowing loanwords are concerned.

2.1 Old Low Franconian

The homeland of Franks was probably between the middle and the lower Rhine. The

earliest record we have about this tribe dates to 256 AD, when they crossed the Roman

borders and entered the present day Belgium which was at that time under the Roman control.

(Donaldson 1983: 87). Since then their contact with Romans was intensifying, at first they

fought against each other, later on Franks inhabited a large area within the limes with the

consent of Romans and gradually accepted the Roman culture. As mentioned in the previous

subchapter Franks were one of the most belligerent tribe so that they subjugated most of the

neighbouring tribes and in the 5th C they formed a political unit first under the Merovingians

and later under the Carolingian dynasty.

An important event for the language development was the embracing of Christianity at

the end of the 5th C which brought the Latin alphabet and literacy with it. The influence of the

Franks in the North-Western Europe was increasing so that at the end of the 6th C only

Frisians and Saxons managed to keep their independence. The 7th C is characterised by

attempts to convert the Frisians and other surrounding people to Christianity and subjugate

them; however, the Anglo-Saxon missions were much more successful in Friesland which

might have been accounted to the fact that both Old English and Old Frisian belong under the

branch of Ingwaeonic languages and at that time they were most probably still mutually

intelligible. (Robinson 1983: 88-9).

11

During the first half of the 8th C, the power of Franks was increasing and they

gradually gained the area up to Lauwers and the river IJsel so that part of the Frisian territory

came under their rule; actually under the reign of Charlemagne, Frankish kingdom spread on

almost the half of Europe. (Donaldson 1983: 85-90). This great empire was later on divided

among the three Charlemagne’s grandsons and quickly afterwards it began to decline. Old

Franconian served as a basis for the forming of the Dutch language.

2.2 Old Saxon

First mentions we have about the presence of Saxon tribes in the area of present day

Netherlands and North Germany are dated to the mid-second century and are found in the

work of the Greek geographer Ptolemy. (Robinson 1992: 100) This tribe as well as the Franks

enjoyed a considerable power and gradually merged with other probably less belligerent

tribes. One part of the Saxons began to migrate to the British Isles, but a considerable amount

remained in their homeland presenting a strong counterpart for the Franks. At first, it seemed

that in the 6th C Saxons’ relationship with Franks must have been amicable as they cooperated

on conquering of the Thuringian kingdom, but later on they became rivals. The Franks under

the rule of Charlemagne continued in the effort to subjugate the Saxon tribes, they finally

achieved success when Widukind, the Saxon king, was defeated in 785 and was forced to

accept Christianity together with Frankish overrule. (Donaldson 1983: 90)

The reign of Charlemagne brought the end to the independence of Saxony, since then

it was always a part of the Holy Roman Empire. When about a hundred years later the

Carolingian Empire found itself in decline, the Saxons even contributed their own dynasty to

the imperial throne (Donaldson 1983: 108).

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2.3 Middle Low German

The continuation of Old Saxon is Middle Low German which we can follow from the

11th to the 15th/16th C. This language variety enjoyed an extraordinary prestige between the

13th and 15th C due to the formation and subsequent heyday of the Hanseatic League, a loose

bond of ports on the coast of the Baltic and North Sea and other cities further inland. Middle

Low German served as a means of communication for all the trading and administrative

activities of this entity. The dialect of Lübeck became a kind of koiné and even though it has

never been codified, this language spread far beyond its former area of usage due to the

success of merchants from the Hanseatic League and their expansion.

Although during the 15th and 16th C the Dutch and English took over their unique

position in trade, the development of Low German (b) can be traced in the following centuries

in form of Dialect in Netherlands and Germany.

2.4 Dutch

The main antecedent of Dutch is Old Low Franconian; however, when the Dutch

language was emerging during the 10. – 11.C, other language varieties, namely Old Saxon

and Old Frisian, used in the area exerted a large influence on forming of this language.

Nevertheless the influence of Franconian was prevalent thanks to its superiority and political

power as mentioned in 2.1 and 2.2.

It is very probable that the Old Dutch language was in use long before the emergence

of the first literary texts. Old German and Old English texts appear already in the 8th C, and it

is very probable that some texts were written in the area of present day Netherlands too;

however, the easy accessibility from the sea meant numerous raids of the Vikings who might

13

have destroyed any texts while plundering the cities or monasteries. Therefore the beginnings

of the Dutch language can be followed only by means of onomastic studies and the few

glosses in Latin texts. (Donaldson 1983: 91)

In the period between 1100 – 1500 which is usually designated as the Middle Dutch

period, the power concentrated mainly around the county of Holland. Most of the coastal

areas were inhabited only sparsely, until the farmers invented methods of draining the coastal

swampy lands and their production of food increased so that it sufficed for the population and

the towns could grow. Especially the cities in Flanders became rich and well-known ports.

With the rise of towns and bourgeoisie the importance of developing a standard language of

communication grew and Middle Dutch began to be used in writing more often. The trading

links with the cities of the Hanseatic League contributed to the development of the Dutch and

as the Holland trade developed it soon posed a competition to the hanseatic fleet. In the 15th C

Amsterdam controlled most of the trade with grain which was imported from the Baltic area

and distributed in Holland, Belgium, France and England; the city soon established its

position as a very important centre of the printing press. (Paul 2008: 17-37).

The invention of printing press, Habsburg rule from Spain, the Reformation and

Renaissance marked the beginning of Early Modern Dutch period. The revolt against Spain

resulted in massive emigration of both intellectuals and workers to Northern Netherland and

also to England so creating a mixture of Dutch, Flemish and Brabant in cities like

Amsterdam, as about 30% of the population was made by the immigrants. The Northern part

of the Low Countries enjoyed an extraordinary development in trade, arts and also overseas in

their colonies. The attempts to standardise the language were supported by creation of

dictionaries, grammars and Bible translation. (Donaldson 1983: 99-104).

14

In the 17th C, the Dutch gained a dominant position in the world trade, the Dutch East

India Company was one the largest commercial enterprises which lead the trade in India and

Indonesia and since the middle of the 17th C, they were able to secure monopoly on trading

with Japan. Colonies were set up in New Amsterdam, South Africa and West Indies, their

sphere of influence also included Angola, Ceylon and North-eastern Brazil. Another

important activity which they engaged in was whaling in the Northern Sea. The influence of

the Dutch could be felt all over the world.

However, the following two centuries were marked by gradual decline of Holland as the

imperial power and their trade became increasingly dependent on the goodwill of Britain, it

even could not match the growing power of the French. The French influence expressed itself

in the exaggerated use of French vocabulary, as a response efforts to purify the Dutch

language came together with the aim of standardisation of the language and of prescribing

rules for its use. (Donaldson 1983: 112). In Europe, the Dutch language ceased to influence its

surrounding languages to the extent as in the preceding centuries; however, the influence of

Dutch settlers in former areas of Dutch influence secured some linguistic exchange.

2.5 Flemish

The historians cannot agree on who lived in the present day Flanders before the start

of our era, it is expected that the people belonged to the Celts or even to some pre-Celtic

inhabitants and already in the 1st C BC Germanic tribes arrived to this area. The situation in

the first half of the millennium is known mostly from archaeological evidence and thanks to

Roman scribes. Only in 862, the county of Flanders was created and in the subsequent

development the county’s rulers changed from French to the dukes of Hainaut in the 12.C,

15

later on Flanders become a part of Burgundy, in the 15th C it came into the hands of

Habsburgs and also to Spanish against whom they fought with the support of English.

In the 12th C the Flemish people suffered from devastating floods which served as an

impetus to many of them to leave their country and search for new home in England. Their

influx was probably large because Henry I issued a resolution that they should settle in

Pembrokeshire. Even though they gradually adopt both the English language and culture,

some traces of Flemish language can still be traced in the local dialect. Nevertheless, we do

not have any attested Low German loanwords from that period.

From the 13th C most of the texts were written in Flemish not in Dutch probably

because of their prosperity, the trade with wool and its processing made Flanders to one of the

richest county in Europe, towns such as Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp were the centres of the

wool trade. (Donaldson 1983: 95). Flemish craft workers were well known and valued for

their abilities which enabled many of them to leave the country for England which among

others spread their language. After their fame began to wade due to the outbreak of the

Hundred Years’ War and also declining trade with English wool, more of the Flemish people

decided to settle elsewhere.

Another wave of Flemish immigrants began to leave for England and other countries

the 16th C after the Spanish Catholics rulers gained control over the protestant Low Countries.

On the invitation of the English Crown, many Flemish artisans, mostly wavers came to

England and settled in Norwich, Colcherster and also London during the Elizabethan reign.

She also supported the Flemish and Dutch Protestants on the other part of the channel against

its imposed Spanish overrule. Despite the religious trouble are considered to be the main

reason for leaving the country, economic stability and safety certainly contributed to the

16

increasing influx of immigrants from the Southern part of the Low Countries. The successive

development in the Low Countries led to establishment of the Kingdom of Belgium. (Cook

2002: 32-64).

2.6 Frisian

The history of Frisian reaches back to the Roman times, their existence is mentioned

by Roman historian such as Tacitus and also in some administrative documents, as there were

a number of contacts between these two peoples – Frisian were often forced to pay tribute to

Romans or they served in Roman army. Although this tribe is mentioned in many Roman

sources, it is not clear whether the name ‘Frisii’ actually referred to a Germanic tribe at that

period or whether it designated some originally non-Germanic group. (Bremer 2009: 1-2)

According to the study of local place names together with the etymology of the word

‘Frisian’, which may be assigned to ‘friends’, ‘free men’ or taken from a language of non-

Germanic origin (Robinson 1992: 176), some scholars assume that Frisian were originally a

group speaking with some IE dialect which was neither German nor Celtic and that they were

Germanized in the course of the first centuries AD. This view is also supported by the fact

that Frisians are the only group who did not move during the Migration of People.

The Frisian appeared in the area of the present-day Zuyder Zee around 300 B.C. The

facts we know about the Frisians from the early centuries of the first millennium are either

gained from written records by the Romans or due to archaeological research. Pottery

provides the best available evidence for migration of different tribes at that period. In the 3rd

C A.D., Anglo-Saxon pottery forms began to influence the Frisian style and within the next

hundred years, Anglo-Saxon pottery prevailed on the whole coastal area which was inhabited

by Frisian. (Jellema 1955: 16). On the basis of this fact, it can be concluded that the Frisian

17

lands were a temporary home for the migrating group of Anglo-Saxons. The people mingled

and their languages were mutually influenced and even after the departure of Anglo-Saxon

their contact continued in form of trade.

In the 5th C, Frisian inhabited the coastal area between the river Rhine and the Weser.

The 6.C. brought Christianity to Friesland from two main sources, from the Frankish and

from the British Isles. The introduction of Christianity is owed mostly to the English

missionaries (e.g. Wilfred who came to Frisia in 677), earlier attempts of Frankish

missionaries did not meet with much success.

In the 8th and 9th C, Frisian were still successful if not leading tradesmen who

controlled the trade in Northern Sea and surrounding coastal areas, thus still being in contact

with the English. (Jellema 1955: 23). During that period, Frisian fought for their

independence against the Franks who were gradually gaining control over more Frisian lands.

Since then, the Frisian were still part of the Frankish kingdom and latter of the Holy Roman

Empire; however, due to their peripheral position, they still enjoyed some degree of freedom

(Robinson 178-181) which was redeemed by the often raids of the Vikings. The loss of

independence resulted in disintegration of the area and no administrative centre was set up.

It is not to be assumed that there are some if any loanwords from Frisian in English

especially from the latter period starting from the 15th C primarily due to the fact that Frisian

was the non-prestigious variant limited rather to the rural areas. Even though there are few

words where the Frisian origin might at least been anticipated as one of the possible

etymologies. These are to be accounted to the frequent contact of the Low Countries with the

English, so that even a word from a non-prestigious variety was borrowed.

18

3. Contact between English and Low German

As we have seen in the previous chapters, the contact between the individual Low

German peoples and Anglo-Saxons was never completely interrupted; on the contrary, it is

assumed that prior to the departure of Anglo-Saxons all the Germanic tribes were in close

contact with each other, whether such a contact was of friendly, hostile or of purely

commercial nature. At that time, the individual language varieties might still have been

mutually intelligible. After the Anglo-Saxon had left their former home, the relation with the

people living on the North-Western coast of Europe continued. Despite the fact, that the

contact of these peoples can be proven, no conclusions as far as any language exchange is

concerned might be drawn.

If we look more closely on the Anglo-Saxon migration to the British Isles which began

around the half of the 5th C and lasted almost 200 years during which Angles, Saxons, Frisians

and Franks were sharing the area of north-western Europe and even after that the contact with

the continental Germanic tribes had never been interrupted. This is proven by numerous

English missionaries who came to the area of present Holland and Northern Germany to

convert the pagan tribes to Christianity, by brisk trade taking place between the continental

Europe and the British Isles and also by the fact that the English were apparently familiar with

the poem Heliand. It can be therefore concluded that even in the pre-Conquest times when the

records concerning trade and other contact activities were scarce there were connections

between the continent and British Isles (Serjaentson 1935: 170).

A one-word runic inscription on a deer bone raiban ‘roe-deer’ is considered to be one

of the first record of Old English language (Hapelmath 2009: 363); however, until the 9th C

the literary text are very scarce and even after that Latin prevails in writing. The same

19

situation applies to the Low German dialects; therefore no certain conclusions can be drawn

about any possible loanwords. Another reason for the difficulty of determining loanwords

from the Old English period is the fact that at that time the differences between the language

varieties were so small that their origin can hardly be attributed to either of these languages

but rather to their common source.

Fig.2: The geographical setting of English (Haspelmath 2009: 362).

In the Middle English period, various languages influenced the development of

English apart from the most influential languages Latin and French, English was also affected

by its cognates from the continent, namely by the different varieties of Low German. There

was a continuous contact between the English and Low German, one of the main reason was

20

trade, especially the one with English wool which was processed in Netherlands. As a result

of trading, migration of Flemish and Dutch people to the British Isles and the other way round

was not an exception (Serjaentson 1935: 171).

The Hanseatic League flourished during the Middle Ages and the contact between the

ports in the Baltic Sea and in England grew together with the language contact between Low

German and English. (Serjaentson 1935: 171). Only in the 15th C, the Dutch began to take

over their role.

The Tudors times witnessed again an intensified contact between the Low Countries

and the English who wanted to support the Protestants’ fighting against their catholic ruler.

The English army participated in the Dutch and Flemish war against the Spanish overrule in

Netherlands. This contact of the Dutch and English soldiers can be traced by loanwords taken

from Dutch such as beleaguer, hackbut.

The 16th C is considered to be the Golden Age of the Dutch art which was widely

known and highly regarded in England therefore many Dutch words which designated new

ways of painting or instruments necessary for it entered English. Strangely enough, after

William III was proclaimed a king, there was no sign of greater influence of Dutch on the

English language. (Serjaentson 1935: 171).

Starting from the Early Modern period, the Dutch and English became rivals in their

colonies in East Indies, but more importantly in South Africa where Dutch people settled

already in the 17th C. Therefore when the English began to establish themselves in the

neighbouring areas and gradually took over the Dutch territories the linguistic interference

caused borrowing of Dutch words which were already established for the newly discovered

animals, plants and other realities of the new country. This explains for example the origin of

21

the names of many types of the African antelopes which arose on the basis of Afrikaans. Also

in the USA the contact with Dutch immigrants incited borrowing, not many Americans know

that they owe the name of one of the most important fairy figure, Santa Claus, to the Dutch

immigrants. Starting from the 17th C, many Dutch borrowing appear first in American English

and are only subsequently taken by the British English.

22

4. Low German Loanwords in English

In this chapter, the results of my analysis of the English lexicon are presented with

respect to the Low German loanwords. The loanwords are divided according to the centuries

in which they were borrowed or rather in which they are first attested in written English. Each

subchapter offers an alphabetical list of borrowed words and the individual entry consist of

the modern English loanword, its specification, the probable source word in the relevant Low

German variety or varieties and an optional note for further explanation of its origin if

necessary. According to my analysis, there are 287 loanwords from Low German; however,

this does not have to be the final number due to two main reasons which are: the origin of

some words has not been explained sufficiently yet and the similarity between a Low German

and English word alone cannot be accounted for its borrowing from either of the languages, as

the similarity may be ascribed to the common origin of these languages.

The situation of lexical borrowings from other Germanic languages was studied by

numerous scholars; however, most of them concentrated on variants which were in close

contact with the English (e.g. Old Norse) or provided a source of loanwords in modern times

due to its dominance in a certain field (e.g. German). Haspelmath and Tadmor (2009) mapped

the overall situation of borrowings in world’s languages, where they also concentrate on the

English language. In their book (2009: 371), it is stated that around 6-8% of non-compound

English words derive from other Germanic languages which are mainly Old Norse, Dutch and

German, to these also back-borrowings from Frankish via French are counted. According to

their analysis 1.3% of today’s English word stock is derived from Low German (a).

If we look at the tables bellow, it is apparent at the first glance that far more numerous

loanwords come from Dutch therefore the Dutch language must have been the most

23

prestigious variety which was used by the majority of people especially by those who were

engaged in trading, administration and relationships with foreigners. Another reason for the

fact that the most borrowings come from Dutch is owed to its standardisation. No other of

Low German variety possessed the status of an official standardised language. Even

nowadays, these are rather perceived as dialects of either Dutch or German. The contact

between English and Dutch was not limited to Europe, but it can be seen that the Dutch were

a powerful rival for the English all over the world during the colonial era. As the English were

gradually taking over former Dutch colonies, they also took over the designations for new

realities in the relevant country from the Dutch settlers. The same situation applies to the

USA, as some of the Dutch borrowings appeared first in Amer. Eng. due to the population of

Dutch people there.

Low German (b) takes the second place as a donor language of borrowings into

English. Especially in the time of the development and prosperity of the Hanseatic League

increased number of borrowings can be observed. As was mentioned before, the sphere of

their influence reached in the hay days of the League from Russian Novgorod to London,

therefore many words connected to the trade and sea transport were taken over into English.

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether the source language was Low German (b) or

Dutch, because the word has the same or very similar form in both these languages, then the

decision will rather be a matter of probable contact schemes with either Dutch or Low

German (b).

The contribution of the other Low German (a) languages is almost insignificant in

comparison with Dutch because most of the words which are considered to be of such origin

are either difficult to explain or their counterpart is found in Dutch btw. in Low German (b)

and therefore the decision about the exact origin is impeded. Afrikaans has a specific position

24

among these varieties, firstly the area of usage allows very precise determination of the

loanword which is usually supported by its semantic field and meaning.

The meaning of loanwords helps not only to determine the nature of the relation

between the English and Low German people but it may be used for more precise decision on

the origin of a loanword, therefore the division of loanwords into semantic fields is important.

Haspelmath and Tadmor (2009: 372) defined in their book 24 semantic fields into which they

categorize the loanwords. Haspelmath’s and Tadmor’s precise differentiation according to the

semantic field is following: the physical word comprises 3,7%, the body 0,6%, the house 2%,

agriculture and vegetation 1,3%, basic action and technology 2,5%, motion 3,8%, possession

1,9%, time 1,8%, Sense perception 2,0%, emotions and values 3,4%, warfare and hunting

4,8%, law 3,8%. Their analysis is based on the collected material which can be found on the

following website <http://wold.livingsources.org/>.

25

4.1 Loanwords from the 13th Century

English Low German (b) Dutch Fris., Flem., appr. year

notes

bounce (or. bunsen) 'application to loud explosive noise, blustering, bounding like a ball' bumsen MLG 1225

bowline 'rope connection, the weather side of a sail with the bow' bōlīne MLG boechline M.Du 13 C bowsprit 'spar extending from the bow of a ship' bochspret MLG 13 C dote 'to be foolish, rave' doten MLG doten M.Du 1200 of unknown origin

drivel orig. 'servant' now 'talk foolishly'

M.Flem drevel 1200

of unknown origin, or from OE dreflian 'to dribble or run at the nose'

freight, fraght ME, ‘goods, cargo‘ vracht, vrecht MLG vracht, vrecht M.Du 13 C

original LGM and M.Du word meant 'cost of transport', it may be created from a lost Old Frisian word derived from P.Gmc *fra-aihtiz 'absolute possession, property'

guild, gild 'confraternity for mutual aid' gilde MLG gild Du 13 C huckster (or. hucster) 'petty tradesman’

*huk- orig. LG stem, LG hucster

hokester M.Du 'peddler' 1200

luff 'an obscure nautical device'

loef O.Du 'windward side of a ship' 1200 perh. via OF fol

poll 'a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject' pol MLG 'head, top' pole M.Du 1200

26

shore 'land bordering a large body of water'

schor MLG 'shore, coast, headland'

scorre M.Du 'land washed by the sea' 13 C

snatch (or. snecchen) 'to grab, take, get secure suddenly or hastily'

snacken M.Du 'to snatch, chatter' 1225

stockfish 'fish split and dried in the air without salt' stokvisch (M)LG stokvisch (M)Du 13C

tackle (or. takel) 'apparatus, gear' takel MLG 'the rigging of a ship' takel Du 1250

wiggle 'to move with short, quick movements from side to side'

wigelen M.Du 'to rock'

wigelen M. Flem. 13 C

perh. taken from either M.Du or M.Flem cf OFris widze

It can be seen that in the 13th C Middle Low German and Middle Dutch loanwords are represented in almost equal numbers. There

appears to be also two possible Flemish loanwords, drivel and wiggle; however, their origin cannot be determined with certainty. We can

conclude that the main domain of contact was the life on the sea or coast, as six of the loanwords refer to the sea and life connected to it.

Two loanwords freight and huckster may be taken as a proof for the importance of trade between the Low German (a) and English.

4.2 Loanwords from the 14th Century

English Low German (b)

Dutch Fris., Flem. appr. year

notes

bale 'bundle, package' bale M.Du, baal Du 14 C prob. Orig. from OF bale 'rolled-up bundle' via Dutch

beaker 'open large-mouthed vessel' bikeri OS beker M.Du 'goblet' 14 C alternatively from ON bikarr bicker 'to skirmish, fight' bicken M.Du 'to slash,

stab, attack' 14 C

27

blare 'to wail' bleren M.Du 'to bleat, cry, bawl, shout'

14 C

blaze 'make public' blasen M.Du 'to blow (on a trumpet)'

14 C

block 'solid piece' block M.Du 'trunk of a tree'

1300 from OF bloc 'log, block' via M.Du

booze (or. bouse) 'drink deeply' būsen M.Du, buizen Du 1300 bow 'fore end of a boat' boog LG boech M.Du 14 C derives either from the Du

boech or from ON bogr boy 'young male child' (orig. boie 'servant, commoner, knave')

buobe LG boef Du 'knave' boi E.Fris 'young gentleman'

1300 uncertain origin, migt be attributed to Efris. boi, or OF embuie 'one fettered'

brawl 'a noisy quarrel' orig. braulen 'to cry out'

brallen Du 'to boast' 14 C

bundle 'a group, quantity wrapped for carrying'

bondel M.Du 'bind' 14 C

cambric (earlier camerike) 'cloth' Kamerik (Fl) 14 C blending of F Cambra and Fl Kamerik - the Fl become F city where the fabric was orig. made

clock 'an instrument for measuring time'

clocke M.Du, klik Du 14 C

dam 'water barrier' dam M.Du 14 C alternatively from ON dammr drug 'medicament, narcotic' droge-vate

MLG. 'dry-barrels'

droge-vate M.Du 14 C of unknown origin, it may come from OF droge 'supply, provision' or from MLG/M.Du droge-vate or droge waere 'dry wares'

hobble 'move unsteadily up and down, walk with unsteady rising and falling'

hobbelen M.Du 'toss, rock from side to side'

hoppelen earl. Flem. of LG origin

1362

kilderkin 'cask for liquids, fish etc; kindekijn M.Du 1390

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measure of capacity' kit 'circular wooden hooped vessel' kitte M.Du 'collection of

personal effects' 1375

ling 'long slender cod-like fish' leng Du, earlier lenghe, linghe

1300 probably of Dutch or LG origin

lollard 'contemptuous name for certain heretics'

lollaerd M.Du 'mumbler, mutterer'

1300

measles 'an acute infectious disease'

masel M.Du 'blemish' 14 C prob. of M.Du origin, there might have been an OE version, but is not recorded

mud 'wet, soft earth' mudde MLG 'thick mud'

modde M.Du 1300

offal 'waste parts, refuse' ofval M.Du 14 C rub 'to move back and forth as against another surface'

rubbeling MLG 'rough, uneven'

rubben E.Fris 'to scratch'

14 C

scoop 'utensil for bailing out' scheppen LG 'to draw water'

schope M.Du 'bucket for bailing water'

14 C

scour 'cleanse by rubbing' scuren M.Du 'to polish, clean'

1300 possibly originally a technical term among Flemish workmen in England, prob. adopted from OF escurer.

scum 'a film or layer of foul; low, worthless or evil person'

schume M.Du 'foam, froth'

14 C

skipper 'captain or master of a ship' scipper M.Du from scip 1390 sling 'implement for throwing stones'

slinge MLG 'sling‘

slinge O.Fris 1300 from an unidentified continental source (cf. OHG slingan, M.Swed slonga)

snack 'to bite or snap' only in 1757 'light meal'

snacken M.Du 'to snatch, chatter'

1300

snort 'to snore' snorten LG 14 C prob. related to snore or to the LG expression

splint 'plate of armor' splinte, splente splinte M.Du related to 1300

29

MLG 'thin piece of iron'

MLG

spool 'a cylindrical piece on which something is wound'

spoele M.Du 'a spool' 14 C

stern 'hind part of a ship' stiarne OFris 'rudder'

1300 or from ON stjorn 'a steering'

trade 'the process of buying and selling'

trade MLG 'track, course'

trade M.Du 14 C introduced by Hanse merchants

wainscot (or. waynscot) 'imported oak of superior quality'

waghenscote M.Du 'superior quality oak wood, board used for paneling'

waghenscote M.Flem.

1352

wrack 'wrecked ship' wrak M.Du 'wreck' 14 C

The loanwords in the 14th C are much more numerous, this time Dutch prevails as a source language and MLG provides only few

loanwords; however, it is often difficult to determine with certainty whether a loanword was taken from either of these languages as we

often find very similar if not the same form of a particular word in each of them. One of the possible causes for so many borrowings

coming from Dutch is that Dutch as a standardized language was studied more closely so that the possible loanwords were assigned to

Dutch without much consideration whether it might not belong to the other Low German (a) varieties. Except for MLG and Dutch we find

also four probable Flemish loanwords and four by which Frisian comes into question as one of the possible sources.

Also in this period the words connected with maritime and trade prevails as the areas of borrowing with words: beaker, bow, kit,

ling, skipper, stern, wrack and bale, kilderkin, trade, wainscot. It can be observed that the contact situation did not limit itself on the above

30

mentioned domains, but there were many other realms which served as a source of borrowing, e.g. cloth industry: spool, cambric; technical

inventions clock, dam, sling and medicine drug, measles.

4.3 Loanwords from the 15th Century

English Low German

Dutch Fris., Flem. appr. year

notes

boor 'husbandman' būr MLG boer Du 1430 prob. of Gmc *bū- 'dwell', IE *bhu, reintroduced due to Dutch form boer

booty 'plunder' bute MLG buten M.Du 15 C brake 'apparatus for retarding the motion of a wheel'

brake MLG braeke M.Du 1440

bruin 'common or brown bear' bruin Du 'brown'

1481

bulwark 'rampart, fortification' bolwerk M.Du 1430 or MHG bolwerk 'ballista, fortification' buoy 'marked float' boje, boei M.Du 1466 Dutch probably borrowed this word from F

boie, buie 'chain, fetter' from which it entered English

corf 'basket, (later) specifically or mining'

korf MLG korf Du. 1483

curl 'to form into coils as the hair'

krull M.Du 'curly'

krull E.Fris 'lock of hair'

15C

dapper 'elegant' dapper MLG 'bold, strong, sturdy'

dapper M.Du 15 C

deck 'platform extending from side to side of a ship'

dec, dek M.Du 'roof, covering'

1466

31

excise 'toll, tax' excijs M.Du 1494 firkin 'cask; quarter of a barrel' vierdelkijn

M.Du 1423

golf 'a game' colf, colve M.Du 'stick, club, bat'

15 C taken from Scottish gouf whose source was Du colf

groove 'mining shaft, mine' groeve M.Du 'furrow, ditch'

15C

guilder 'coin of the Netherlands' gulden Du gulden Flem

1481

hoist 'to raise' hissen, hiesen LG

hyssen M.Du; hijschen Du 'to hoist'

1540s it originated prob. from M.Du

hop 'hop plant, humulus lupus' hoppe MLG hoppe M.Du 1440 hoy 'small sailing vessel' hoei, hoede,

heude M.Du 1495

leak 'to let water in or out' leken 'to drip, to leak'

15 C either from M.Du or ON leka might be an alternative source

loiter 'idle, linder indolently' leuteren M.Du 'wag about, leuteren Du 'shake, totter, dawdle'

1440 perhaps introduced by vagrants from the Low Countries

luck 'good fortune, happiness' luk LG ghelucke M.Du, geluk Du

15C probably originally introduced as a gambling term

marline 'small line' marlijn Du 1417 mart 'market' marct M.Du 15 C from L mercatus 'trade' mart 'market, fair' marct M.Du

(from Lat. mercatus)

1437

meerkat 'monkey' meerkat Du 'monkey'

15 C

nap 'downy surface of cloth' noppe MLG noppe M.Du 15 C probably introduced by Flemish cloth-

32

'nap, tuft of wool'

workers

orlop 'the lowermost of four or more decks above the space at the bottom of a hull'

overlōp MLG

overloop M.Du 'covering, and over-leap'

1467

pickle 'salt liquor in which food is preserved'

pökel LG pekel M.Du 'pickle, brine'

päkel E.Fris 1440

pill 'medicament' pille MLG pille M.Du 15 C pip 'disease of birds' pippe M.Du

'mucus' 1420

placard 'formal document authenticated by an affixed seal'

placken M.Du 'to patch, to plaster'

1481 orig. prob. from MF placquard

pump 'apparatus for forcing liquid or air'

pumpe MLG

pompe M.Du 'water conduit, pipe'

15 C

rack 'frame with bars' rakk LG rec M.Du 'framework'

1440

selvage 'edge of web or cloth so finished as to prevent raveling'

sulfegge LG zelfkant Du selvegge M.Flem

15 C a corruption of self+edge arose as an analogy of M.Flem selvegge

sled 'a sledge used for transport of heavy goods'

sledde M.Du 1440

slip 'narrow strip' slippe MLG slippe M.Du 'cut, slit'

15 C

smelt 'to obtain or refine (metal) in this way'

smelten LG smelten Du 15 C

snap 'quick, sudden bite or cut' snappen LG snap(en) Du 1495 stove 'heating' stove MLG

'heated room'

stove M.Du 15 C

33

In the 15th C, Middle Low German can still be considered an important source for English borrowings even though Dutch surpasses

it. In this period, only four words might possibly be attributed to Flemish or Frisian, though it can be supposed that these words were rather

borrowed from Dutch as this language enjoyed greater popularity as a relatively standardised variant.

There were again introduced many nautical and commercial terms (e.g. buoy, deck, hoy, orlop and excise, guilder, mart, meerkat

respectively) newly introduced semantic fields were military and technical invention (booty, bulwark and break, groove, pump, sled, smelt)

and also fashion and society (curl, dapper, loiter, luck), processing of cloth contributed with a couple of terms too, e.g. nap and selvage.

4.4 Loanwords from the 16th Century

English Low German (b)

Dutch Fris., Flem., Afrikaans

appr. year

notes

aloof 'at a distance, reserved'

loef Du, lof M.Du 'the weather side of a ship'

1530

anker, also anchor 'liquid measure in North Sea and Baltic trade'

anker Du 1597 M.L. anceria, ancheria 'a small vat'

bamboo 'woody tropical grasses'

bamboe Du 1590 from Port. bambu

beleaguer 'besiege, invest'

belegeren Du 1589

beleaguer 'to surround with military

belegeren LG 'to besiege'

belegeren Du 1580 a word from the Flemish Wars, spelling influenced by league

34

forces' blink 'to open and close the eye'

blinken M.Du 'to glitter' 1580 of uncertain origin

boom 'long spar, floating timber barrier'

būmschip MLG, bumboot LG(b) probably from MLG

bumboat Du 16C

boom 'long pole' boom Du 'tree, pole, beam'

1540 from Scottish boun which was borrowed from Du

brack 'salty, briny' brak Du 'worthless' 1510 buckwheat 'a plant, Fagopyrum esculentum'

boecweite M.Du 'beech wheat'

1540

bugger 'sodomite, vulgar coarse'

bougre M.Du 16 C via Du from the (O)F bougre (origin in Bulgarians who were considered to be heretic as members of Eastern Orthodox Christians)

bully 'a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person ' orig. 'sweetheart'

boel Du 'lover, brother' 1530

bumpkin 'awkward country fellow'

bommekijn M.Du 'little barrel'

1560

burgher 'citizen' burger Du 1568 burgomaster 'chief magistrate od a Dutch or Flemish town'

burgemeester Du 1592

dock 'bed or hollow in which a ship rests at low water'

docke MLG docke, dok M.Du 16 C of unknown origin

35

dock 'solid fleshy part of a horse's tail, crupper'

docke (M)LG 'bundle of straw'

docke M.Du dok Fris 'bunch, ball (of twine)'

1513

doit 'an old small copper coin of the Netherlands, a bit or triffle'

duit M.Du 1594

dollar 'currency' daler LG 1550 from G taler, abbreviation of Joachimstaller 'gulden of Joachimstal'

domineer 'to rule arbitrarily or despotically, tyrannize'

domineeren (from F) 1588

elope 'to run off' (ont)lopen M.Du 'run away'

1590 probably reborrowing from M.Du

filibuster 'piratical adventurer'

vrijbuiter Du. 'free-booter'

1587

fitch, fitchew 'polecat and its fur'

vitsche, visse, fisse early Du

1502 appar. of OF origin ficheau

flue (or. floow) 'chimney, smoke ducts in it'

vloe M.Du vluwe W.Flem

1589

foist 'introduce surreptitiously or unwarrantably'

vuysten M.Du 'to take in the fist'

1545

forlorn hope 'hopeless enterprise; picked force detailed for an attack, desperate adventurers, players'

verloren hoop Du 'lost troop'

1539

freebooter 'piratical adventurer'

vribueter M.Du 1570

36

frolic 'joyous, sportive'

vrolijk (M.)Du , vro 'glad, joyous'

1538

gas 'a substance possessing perfect molecular mobility'

gas Du 1560 prob. from Gk khaos 'empty space', first used by Flemish chemist J.B. van Helmont

grab 'to seize suddenly or quickly'

grabben MLG 'to grab'

grabben M.Du 1580

gruff 'coarse, coarse-grained'

grof MLG 'coarse in quality, thick, large'

grof M.Du 1530

hackbut 'weapon' haakbus Du (from F haquebut)

1541 MF ha(r)quebusch came via Dutch

hawker 'itinerant, seller'

hoker, hac MLG prob of LG origin

heuker Du 1510

hoyden 'a boisterous, bold, and carefree girl'

heiden Du 'rustic, unicivilized man'

1590 of unknown origin, perhaps from Du

interloper 'unauthorized trader trespassing on privileges of chartered companies'

looper Du, loper M.Du 'runner, rover'

1583

isinglass 'gelatin obtained from air-bladder of sturgeon'

huizenblas Du huysen 'sturgeon' + blas 'bladder'

1528 sturgeons bladder' later assimilated to 'glas'

kermess 'female of the insect Kermes ilicis'

kermis Du (from M.Du kerk-misse)

1577

landscape 'picture representing natural inland scenery'

lantscap M.Du from land 'land' + scap- '-ship, condition';

1598

37

originally introduced as a painters term

linstock 'staff to hold a lighted match'

lontstok Du 'match stick'

1560

litmus 'blue dye obtained from certain lichens'

lijkmoes M.Du, lakmoes Du

1502

manikin 'jointed figure used by artists'

manneken Du 'little man'

1570

margrave 'governor of a German border province'

marcgrave M.Du 1551 originally from OHG marcgravo

minikin 'darling' minnekijn M.Du 1541 minx 'pet dog, pert girl'

minnekijn M.Du 1542 of uncertain origin perhaps a shortening of Du minikin 'girl, woman'

muff 'warm covering for the hands'

mof Du 'a muff' shortened from M.Du moffel 'mitten, muff'

1590

pad 'bundle of straw to lie on'

pad LG 'sole of the foot'

pad Du 1554

palsgrave 'a count palatine'

palsgrave M.Du pals 'palace' + graaf 'count'

1548

quacksalver 'charlatan, quack doctor'

kwakzalver Du 1579

rant 'be uproariously merry'

ranten M.Du 'talk foolishly, rave'

1598

ravel 'to untangle, unwind'

ravelen M.Du 'to tangle, fray, unweave'

1582

reef (riff) 'ridge underwater'

riffe Du 1584 prob. via Du from ON rif 'ridge'

rix-dollar 'any of rijksdaler Du 1598

38

various silver coins' rover 'sea robber, pirate'

rōver MLG rōver Du 'robber, predator, plunderer'

1536

scone 'thin, flat cake' schonbrod LG schoon brood Du 'fine bread'

1513

shallop 'kind of light boat'

sloep Du 'sloop' 1578 orig. F chaloupe came to E via Du

siskin 'cardueline finches'

czītze MLG sijsken M.Du from LG 1562 orig. from Slavic, Lusatian cyž, Czech číž

snaphance 'a spring lock for discharging a firearm'

snaphaan Du 'a gun, originally, the snapping cock of a gun'

1538

snip 'small piece of cut-out cloth'

snippen LG snippen Du. 'to cut in small pieces'

1558

spatter 'to scatter or dash in small particles or drops'

spatten LG spatten Du 'to burst, spout'

1582

splice 'to join together, to unite'

splissen M.Du 'to splice'

1524

split 'to divide, separate'

splitten M.Du splita OFris, splitte Fris

1580

stiver 'nickel coin of the Netherlands, the smallest possible amount'

stuiver Du 1502

sutler 'person who follows an army to sell food to soldiers'

suteler, sudeler MLG 'person who performs dirty tasks'

soeteler M.Du 'small tradesman', zoetelaar Du

1500

swab from swabber 'mop made of rope or

zwabber Du swabber W.Fris 'mop'

1592

39

yarn' uproar 'insurrection, tumult'

oproer Du 'tumult, riot' 1526

waggon 'wheeled vehicle'

wagen Du 1523 it came into Eng. due to Flemish immigration, Dutch trade or the Continental wars

wiseacre 'wise person' wijs-segger M.Du from MHG weis-sager

1595

yacht 'a light, fast-sailing ship'

jacht MLG jachtschip 'fast pirate ship'

jacht Du 1557 into Eng. via MLG from the Norw. jaght

younker 'young nobleman'

jonker Du, jonckher M.Du

1505

The 16th C was also rich in Low German (a) loanwords and again Dutch loanwords are the most frequent. It can also be observed

that the number of possible Low German (b) borrowings decreased, most of them are nautical and military nature. Three of these

loanwords might have their origin in Frisian; however, all of them are also attested in Dutch. There is only one borrowing from Flemish.

The spheres of borrowing are more varied in the 16th C which may be attributed to the increased contact with the Low Countries

during the Tudor’s reign. There can again be found nautical (dock, filibuster, freebooter, reef, rover, shallop, yacht), commercial (anker,

doit, dollar, hawker, rix-dollar, stiver) and military loanwords (e.g. beleaguer, hackbut, sutler). The domain of society and arts plays an

increasingly important role with loanwords such as bugger, bully, bumpkin, burgher, burgomaster, frolic, hoyden, minikin, minx,

landscape, manikin, wiseacre, younker and again cloth industry cambric, muff, snip.

40

4.5 Loanwords from the 17th Century

English Low German (b)

Dutch Fris., Flem., Afrikaans

appr. year

notes

abele 'the white poplar tree'

abeel Du 1681 via Dutch from orig OF abel, aubel

avast 'a nautical interjection 'hold!, stop!'

houd vast Du 'hold fast'

1680

bluff 'high, steep river or seaside bank'

blaff MLG of LG origin

blaf Mdu 17C first in North America

blunderbuss 'short gun with large bore'

dunderbus Du 1654

brandy (earlier brandwine)

brandewijn Du 1622

Brooklyn 'New York City borough'

Breukelen Du 'township of Breukelen near Utrecht'

1646

cockatoo 'parrot of the genera Cacatua'

kaketoe Du 1610 from Malay kakatua

commodore orig. commandore 'senior captain in the navy'

komandeur Du 1690 prob. from Du komandeur which came originally from F commandeur OF comandeor

coper 'seller of horses' coper 'merchant' M.Du

1609

cranberry 'red acid berry' kraanbere LG kraan 'crane' + bere 'berry'

1640 Amer. Eng.

crimp 'to press into small regular folds, to curl'

krimpen LG 'to shrink, crimp'

crimpen M.Du 1630

cruise 'to sail, travel around'

kruisen Du 'to cross, sail to and fro'

1650

41

decoy 'pool with netted approaches for the capture of wildfowl'

kaue MLG de kooi Du 'cage' 1618 perh. back to L. cavea 'cage'

Dopper 'Baptist' dooper EMDu 1620 drill 'bore a hole; train in military evolutions'

drillen MLG 'roll, turn'

drillen EMDu 'bore, turn in a circle, brandish'

1611

duck 'strong fabric used for sails and sailors'

doeck Du 'linen cloth', doec M.Du

1630

duffle, duffel 'coarse woolen cloth with a thick nap'

Duffel Du 1677 It was named after a town in Brabant where the clothes was originally sold.

easel 'standing frame to support a picture'

ezel Du 1654

furlough 'military a vacation or leave, temporary layoff from work'

verlof M.Du ver- 'completely, for' + laf, lof 'permission

1620

garboard 'first range of planks or plates laid on the keel'

geerboord Du 1626

gherkin 'small cucumber used for pickling'

gurken EMDu. 'small pickled cucumber'

augurk E.Fris 'cucumber'

1660

hanker 'linker, loiter' hunkeren Du 'to hanker'

hankeren Flem

1600 of unknown origin, prob. from Flem., relate to Du

holster 'leather case for a pistol'

holster M.Du 1660 prob. OE heolster, helustr 'concealment, hiding place' reinforced by Du holster

hooker 'prostitute' hoeck-boot EMDu 1641 howitzer 'a cannon' houwitser Du 1660 via Dutch from Bohemian houfnice 'a

catapult' hustle 'shake to and fro, hutselen (M.)Du 1684

42

push about roughly' husselen, hutselen 'shake frequent'

jib (variant of gybe) 'triangular stay sail'

gijben Du related to gijk 'boom or spar of a sailing ship'

1661

keelhaul 'to haul under the keel'

kielhalen Du 1626

kill n. 'stream' Amer. Eng.

kil Du, kille M.Du 'riverbed

1630

kink 'twist or curl' kink Du 'twist in a rope'

1670

knapsack 'bag for clothes and other supplies'

knapsack originated in MLG

knapzak Du 1603

layman 'lay figure, non-expert'

leeman Du 1688

maelstrom 'whirlpool off the northwest coast of Norway'

Maelstrom Du 'grinding-stream'

17C orig. from Dan malstrøm

mallemuck 'mollymawk' mallemok Du 1694 maulstick 'light stick used by painters to support the painting hand'

maalstok Du from mallen 'to paint'+ stock 'stick'

1658

monsoon 'trade wind of the Indian Ocean'

monssoen Du 1684 originally from Arabic mawsim 'appropriate season'

morass 'wet, swampy tract'

moreas Du 'marsh, fen'

1655 orig. from OF marais 'marsh'

onslaught 'an onset, assault'

aanslag Du 'attack' 1625

outlander 'a foreigner, an outsider'

uitlander Du 1605

43

patroon 'landowner' patroon Du 1662 used in foreign context in parts of N.Y and N.J colonies for 'landholder'

plug 'a piece used to stop up a hole'

pluck MLG plug Du, plugge M.Du 'bung, stopper'

1620

polder 'low-lying land reclaimed from the sea'

polre M.Du 17 C

shamble 'to walk with a shuffling gait'

schampelen M.Du 1681

skate 'ice skate or roller skate'

shake LG 'leg' schaats Du, schaetse M.Du

1656 it was brought to England after the Restoration by exilled followers of Charles II who had taken refuge in Holland, orig from F escache 'a stilt, trestle'

sketch 'rough drawing intended to serve as the bases for a finished picture'

schets Du 1668 (a loanword from It schizzo)

sloop 'a single-masted sailing vessel'

sloep Du 'sloop' 1629 prob. from F chaloupe

slur 'deliberate slight' sluren MLG 'to trail in mud'

sloren M.Du'to draggle'

sluren E.Fris 'to go about carelessly'

1609 from ME slore, cognate with MLG,M.DU and E.Fris forms

slurp 'to ingest with loud sucking noises'

slurpen Du 1640

smack 'single-masted sailboat'

smak LG 'sailboat'

smacke M.Du 1611

smuggler 'to transport (goods) illegally'

smuggeln LG smokkelen Du 1660

snicker 'to laugh in a half-suppressed manner'

snikken Du 'to gasp, sob'

1690 possibly of imitative origin

snuff 'powdered tobacco to be inhaled'

snuffen M.Du snuf Flem 'shortened

1683

44

form of snuftabak'

spancel 'a noosed rope with which to hobble an animal'

spansel LG derivative of spannen 'to stretch'

spansel M.Du 1610

spelter 'zinc, especially in the form of ingots'

spialter LG speauter M.Du 1661 of uncertain origin, but akin to M.Du and LG

still life 'painting of inanimate objects'

stilleven Du 17 C translating according to Du

stipple 'to paint, engrave by means of dots or small touches'

stippelen Du 'to make points'

1669

stoke 'to feed and stir up a fire in a fireplace'

stoken Du 'to stoke' from stoken M.Du 'to poke, thrust'

1660

stripe 'a line or band in cloth'

stripe MLG 'stripe, streak'

stripe M.Du 1620

stum 'unfermented grapejuice'

stom Du, stameren M.Du

1622

swamp 'a tract of wet, spongy land'

sump MLG 'swamp'

somp M.Du 1624

tattoo 'signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night'

taptoe Du 'faucet of a cask'

1644

trigger 'cause, initiate' trekker Du 'trigger' from trekken 'to pull'

1620

walrus 'a large marine mammal'

walrus Du, prob. folk etymology walvis 'whale' and ros 'horse'

1655

Yankee 'a native or Janke Du 'little John' 1683 used by Duch settler in New

45

inhabitant of the United States'

Amsterdam to designate the English colonists

yawl 'type of ship' jolle MLG 'a Juteland boat'

jol Du 1670 of unknown origin

In this period the language contact is no longer confined only to Europe, but to the Dutch and English territories all over the world.

The most important are the area of former New Amsterdam in the USA (e.g. bluff, Brooklyn, Yankee), but also in other parts of the world

under their control (e.g. cockatoo from Malay via Dutch). Again the majority of loanwords come from Dutch although few Low German

loanwords can still be found.

As far as the semantic fields are concerned, one can find again the already well known commercial (coper), nautical (avast,

commodore, jib) and military (blunderbuss, furlough, howitzer, outlander) loanwords to these the domain of art is added with words such

as easel, sketch, stipple and also botany (abele, cranberry, gherkin).

4.6 Loanwords from the 18th Century

English Low German (b) Dutch Fris., Flem., Afrikaans

appr. year

notes

ahoy 'nautical, interjection'

hoi Du 'hi, hello' 18 C

bush in British colonies applied to the 'uncleared district'

bosh Du 1780

46

caboose 'cook-house (galley) of a ship'

kabhuse MLG 'wooden cabin on ship's deck'

cabūse, combūse EMod.Du , kabuis Du

1747 probably a compound whose elements correspond to English cabin and house

cam 'machinery, disc having and irregular form'

cam Du 'cog of a wheel' 1777

delftware Delft 'town in Holland where the glazed earthenware was made'

1714

cookie 'small cake' Amer. Eng

koekje 'little cake', koke M.Du

1730

colza 'coleseed' kōlsāt LG koolzaad Du 1712 dune 'sand hill on the sea-coast'

dūne M.Du, duin Du 1790

drogher 'a vessel used in the coasting trade in West Indies'

og Du 'ship for fisshing and drying herring and mackerel'

1756

eland 'S. Afr. Antelope' eland Afrik. (Du) 1786 etching, etch v. 'the art of engraving'

etsen Du 1760

grysbok 'S. Afr. antelope' grijs Du 'grey' from Afrikaans

1786

gemsbok 'type of Antelope'

1777 Afrikaans

hale 'drag, summon' halen O.Du 1734 hartebeest 'buvolec' hert + beest 'hart beast' from 1786 Afrikaans iceberg 'a large floating mass of ice'

ijsberg Du lit. 'ice mountain' 1774 partial loan-translation of Du

geneva (shorter gin) 'spirit flavoured with the juice of juniper berries'

jenever, gebever Du (from OF genevre assimilated to the name of Geneva in Switzerland)

1706

klipspringer 'S. Afr. antelope'

klip 'rock' + springer, 1785 from Afrikaans

47

kraal 'village, pen, enclosure'

kraal Du 18C Afrikaans adopted prob. Portuguese curral 'pen'

mangle 'hack or cut about'

mangel Du 1774 Sjer

moss-bunker 'a fish, Brevortia tyrannus' first in Amer. Eng.

marsbanker Du 1792

pea-jacket 'a short coat of thick wool' Amer. Eng.

pijekkat Fris 1725 first in Amerika

rijsttafel 'an Indonesian meal'

rijst 'rice' + tafel 'table' Du 1885-90

roster 'list, roll or register' rooster Du 'table, list 1727 Santa Claus Amer. Eng Sante Klaas Du, Sinter

Niklaas M.Du 'Saint Nicholas'

1773

schooner 'sailing vessel' schooner Du 1716 prob. borrowed from Scottish scon 'to send over water, to skip stones', later spelling influenced by the Dutch loanword from English, first appeared in America)

scow 'large flat-bottomed boat'

schouw Du 'a ferry boat, punt', scouwe M.Du

1775

spillikin 'a jackstraw' spelleken M.Du 1734 steenbok 'a small antelope'

steenboc M.Du 1775 from Afrikaans steenbok

stoep 'raised open platform at the door of a house' Amer.Eng, Can.

stoep Du 'flight of steps, doorstep, stoop'

1755

trass 'a light-colored type of volcanic tuff'

tras Du 1796 via Du from the It terrazza

wentletrap 'Epitonii' wenteltrap Du 'spiral staircase'

1758

48

The loanwords from the 18th C are far less numerous, the sphere of influence of Dutch on English shifts from Europe to the

colonies. This century sees the introduction of vocabulary from Afrikaans between the colonists in South Africa and an increasing number

of loanwords appear first in the American English than in the British (e.g. cookie, moss-bunker, Santa Claus, stoep).

According to the change of sphere of influence also the semantic fields of the loanwords change, there still remains commercial and

nautical (ahoy, iceberg, schooner, scow) loanwords; nevertheless new areas in which words were borrowed were added e.g. the names for

newly discovered animals (duiker, eland, grysbock etc.).

4.7 Loanwords from the 19th Century

English Low German (b)

Dutch Fris., Flem., Afrikaans

appr. year

notes

aardvark 'a large, nocturnal, burrowing mammal, Orycteropus afer'

aardvark Du Afrikaans lit 'earth-pig'

1833 from Afrikaans

bantam 'small breed of chicken'

Bantam Du, former Dutch residency in Java

1837

batik 'a technique of hand-dyeing fabrics'

1880 via Dutch from Malay mbatik

bluff 'poker term' Amer. Eng. bluffen 'to brag, boast' 1839 boodle 'crowd, phony money, graft money' Amer. Eng. Slang

boedel Du 'property' 1833

boss 'master, employer' orig in baas Du 1882 of unknown origin, but might be

49

U.S. attributed to the Du baas coleslaw 'a salad of raw cabbage' Amer. Eng

koolsla Du kool "cabbage" + sla "salad"

19C

cruller 'a rich, light cake cut from a rolled dough and deep-fried' Amer. Eng

kruller Du 'to curl', crullen M.Du

1805

dope (orig. U.S.) 'lubricating fluid, opium or other narcotic'

doop Du 'sauce', doopen 'dip'

1880

flench, flense 'cut up the fat of a whale, skin a seal'

flench, flinch Du 1814

hooky 'unjustifiable absence from school, work'

hoekje Du 'hide and seek'

1848

kopje 'a small hill' kopje Du 19C taken from Afrikaans koppie pinkie 'the little finger' pinkje Du. 1808 of uncertain origin pit 'hard seed' pit Du 'kernel, seed,

marrow'

1841

poppycock 'rubbish, nonsense' pappekak Du, pappe M.Du 'soft dung'

1865

schipperke 'a Belgian breed of small dog'

skipperkin Du 'little boatman'

1887

slim 'thin' slim LG slim Du 19 C snoop 'to go around in a prying manner' Amer. Eng.

snoepen Du 'to prey, to eat in secret'

1832

specstioneer 'the chief harpooner'

spek-snijer Du 1820

spook 'a ghost' spook Du, spooc M.Du 'spook, ghost'

1801

spoor 'track, trace' spor M.Du 1823 from Afrikaans spoor uitlander 'a foreigner, especially a British settler in the Boer republics'

19C from Afrikaans

50

veldt 'South African grassland' veld Du 'field' 19C from Afrikaans waffle 'a batter cake' wafel MLG wafel Du 1808 witloof 'endive' witloof Du lit 'white

foliage, white leaf'

1880

4.8 Loanwords from the 20th Century

bazooka 'metal tube rocket launcher' bazuin Du 'trumpet' 1935 geek 'sideshow freak' US carnival and circus slang

geck LG 'a fool, dupe, simpleton' 1916

Stijl 'a group of Dutch artists' De Stijl Du 20C

The number of loanwords decreased profoundly during the 19th and 20th C and they appear again as in the 18th C rather in the

American English (bluff, boodle, boss, coleslaw, etc.) or in the variant of English from the colonies (e.g. bantam from Java), and from

Afrikaans (aardvark, uitlander).

As the number of loanwords decreased it is more difficult to establish semantic fields on the basis of the available material, there

still remain nautical loanwords which appeared in every century (e.g. flench, spectioneer). The borrowings in American English usually

concern society or behaviour in society (bluff, boss, snoop, etc.).

51

6. Conclusion

The thesis aims at providing a full overview of loanwords from the Low German

languages. It can be seen on the basis of the collected material that the languages had been in

a continuous contact throughout the Middle Ages and also in the modern times. The extra

linguistic factors reflect precisely in the number of borrowings from the individual Low

German (a) languages. While in the Middle Ages the influence of Low German (b) of the

Hanseatic League seemed to determine the process of borrowing almost equally with the

Dutch language, in the latter periods, Dutch, probably as the only standardised variant

prevails. The colonial period which meant an increased contact with all languages expressed

itself in the continuation of borrowing Dutch words outside of Europe and also from

Afrikaans as the English and former Dutch colonists were in daily contact in many parts of

the world.

It can be therefore concluded, that the influence on the language is determined by the

extra linguistic reality and expresses itself lexical exchange. The increasing number of

loanwords indicated an increase in contact between the relevant people. On the basis of the

nature of the loanwords, it can be further determined which realm of human activity was the

most usual for the contact situations. The study of the semantic level of the borrowings shows

the contact areas of the individual languages.

52

Register

aardvark 1833 abele 1681 ahoy 18 C aloof 1530 anker 1597 avast 1680 bale 14 C bamboo 1590 bantam 1837 batik 1880 bazooka 1935 beaker 14 C beleaguer 1589 beleaguer 1580 bicker 14 C blare 14 C blaze 14 C blink 1580 block 1300 bluff 17C bluff 1839 blunderbuss 1654 boodle 1833 boom 1540 boor 1430 booty 15 C booze 1300 boss 1882 bounce 1225 bow 14 C bowline 13 C bowsprit 13 C boy 1300 brack 1510 brake 1440 brandy 1622 brawl 14 C Brooklyn 1646 bruin 1481 buckwheat 1540 bugger 16 C

bully 1530 bulwark 1430 bumpkin 1560 bundle 14 C bung 15 C buoy 1466 burgher 1568 burgomaster 1592 bush 1780 caboose 1747 cam 1777 cambric 14 C clock 14 C cockatoo 1610 coleslaw 19C colza 1712 commodore 1690 cookie 1730 coper 1609 corf 1483 cranberry 1640 crimp 1630 cruise 1650 cruller 1805 curl 15C dam 14 C dapper 15 C deck 1466 decoy 1618 delftware 1714 dock 16 C dock 1513 doit 1594 dollar 1550 domineer 1588 dope 1880 Dopper 1620 dote 1200 drill 1611 drivel 1200 drogher 1756

drug 14 C duck 1630 duffle, duffel 1677 duiker 1777 dune 1790 easel 1654 eland 1786 elope 1590 etching, etch v. 1760 excise 1494 filibuster 1587 firkin 1423 fitch, fitchew 1502 flench, flense 1814 flue 1589 foist 1545 forlorn hope 1539 freebooter 1570 freight, 13 C frolic 1538 furlough 1620 garboard 1626 gas 1560 geek 1916 gemsbok 1777 geneva (gin) 1706 gherkin 1660 golf 15 C grab 1580 groove 15C gruff 1530 grysbok 1786 guild, gild 13 C guilder 1481 hackbut 1541 hale 1734 hanker 1600 hartebeest 1786 hawker 1510 hobble 1300 hobble 1362

53

hoist 1540s holster 1660 hooker 1641 hooky 1848 hop 1440 howitzer 1660 hoy 1495 hoyden 1590 huckster 1200 hustle 1684 iceberg 1774 interloper 1583 isinglass 1528 jib 1661 keelhaul 1626 kermess 1577 kilderkin 1390 kill n. 1630 kink 1670 kit 1375 klipspringer 1785 knapsack 1603 kopje 19C kraal 18C landscape 1598 layman 1688 leak 15 C ling 1300 linstock 1560 litmus 1502 loiter 1440 lollard 1300 luck 15C luff 1200 maelstrom 17C mallemuck 1694 mangle 1774 manikin 1570 margrave 1551 marline 1417 mart 15 C mart 1437 maulstick 1658 measles 14 C meerkat 15 C minikin 1541

minx 1542 monsoon 1684 morass 1655 moss-bunker 1792 mud 1300 muff 1590 nap 15 C offal 14 C onslaught 1625 orlop 1467 outlander 1605 pad 1554 palsgrave 1548 patroon 1662 pea-jacket 1725 pickle 1440 pill 15 C pinkie 1808 pip 1420 pit 1841 placard 1481 plug 1620 polder 17 C poll 1200 poppycock 1865 pump 15 C quacksalver 1579 rack 1440 rant 1598 ravel 1582 reef (riff) 1584 rijsttafel 1885-90 rix-dollar 1598 roster 1727 rover 1536 rub 14 C Santa Claus 1773 scone 1513 scoop 14 C scour 1300 scow 1775 scum 14 C selvage 15 C shallop 1578 shamble 1681 shore 13 C

schipperke 1887 schooner 1716 siskin 1562 skate 1656 sketch 1668 skipper 1390 sled 1440 slim 19 C sling 1300 slip 15 C sloop 1629 slur 1609 slurp 1640 smack 1611 smelt 15 C smuggler 1660 snack 1300 snap 1495 snaphance 1538 snatch 1225 snicker 1690 snip 1558 snoop 1832 snort 14 C snuff 1683 spancel 1610 spatter 1582 specstioneer 1820 spelter 1661 spillikin 1734 splice 1524 splint 1300 split 1580 spook 1801 spool 14 C spoor 1823 steenbok 1775 stern 1300 Stijl 20C still life 17 C stipple 1669 stiver 1502 stockfish 13C stoep 1755 stoke 1660 stove 15 C

54

stripe 1620 stum 1622 sutler 1500 swab 1592 swamp 1624 tackle 1250 tattoo 1644 trade 14 C trass 1796 trigger 1620 uitlander 19C uproar 1526 veldt 19C waffle 1808 waggon 1523 wainscot 1352 walrus 1655 wentletrap 1758 wiggle 13 C wiseacre 1595 witloof 1880 wrack 14 C yacht 1557 yankee 1683 yaw 1670 younker 1505

55

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57

List of abbreviations

Du – Dutch

E.Fris – East Frisian EMDu – Early Modern Dutch

F – French Fr. - Frankish

Fris. - Frisian G – German

HG – High German EM.Du. – Early Modern Dutch

Flem – Flemish LG – Low German

M.Du. – Middle Dutch MF – Middle French

M.Flem. – Middle Flemish MLG – Middle Old German

O.Du. – Old Dutch OF – Old French

OFris – Old Friesian OHG – Old High German

ON – Old Norse OS – Old Saxon

or. – originally Scand. – Scandinavian