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Reflexes of French mécanique in German Dialects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Richard K. Seymour
Richard K. Seymour*
Affiliation:
Duke University
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Extract

In the Swabian dialect there is the word [mie] which means ‘brake, brake shoe, or device, at the back of a cart, for arresting or stopping the motion of a cart’. The etymology of the word has always been a subject of some controversy. The present paper attempts to bring to light new evidence concerning the etymology and perhaps to remove the controversial aspects of it.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 36 , Issue 3: July-September , September 1960, pp. 354 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © 1960 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 Volume and page number in Hermann Fischer's Schwäbisches Wörterbuch (see fn. 2) are given for Swabian forms: [mie] 4.1658.

2 Hermann Fischer, Schwäbisches Wörterbuch, Vols. 1–5, 6.1, 6.2, (Tübingen, 1904–36).

3 See fn. 38, section 2.

4 See fn. 30.

5 H. Schulz, Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch 2.92 (Strassburg and Leipzig, 1913 f.).

6 Fischer 4.1659.

7 Fischer 4.1601.

8 W. Foerste, Micke ‘Gabelholz’, NJ 82.196–206 (1959).

9 Fischer 6.1.521.

10 Fischer 4.308.

11 Friedrich Veit, Ostdorfer Studien 2.24, 3.viii (Tübingen, 1902).

12 J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch 750 (Bern, 1954).

13 K. F. Johansson, Etymologische Beiträge, KZ 30.428–52 (1890), especially 448.

14 Karl Brugmann, Gdr. 1.§190, §212, et al. (Strassburg, 1886).

15 Fischer 6.1.752.

16 Fischer 4.1360, 4.1548; F. Kauffmann, Geschichte der schwäbischen Mundart §144, §183, §188 (Strassburg, 1890).

17 Fischer 6.2.2565–6.

18 Fischer 6.1.752.

19 J. Bröcher, Die Sprache des Schmiedehandwerkes im Kreise Olpe auf Grund der Mundart von Rhonard 32–3 (Berlin, 1907).

20 Josef Müller, Rheinisches Wörterbuch 5.1018–23, map 1019–20 (Berlin, 1941); also G. G. P. Autenrieth, Pfälzisches Idiotikon 93, 94 (Zweibrücken, 1899); M. Hasenclever, Der Dialekt der Gemeinde Wermelskirchen 88 (diss. Marburg, 1904); E. Protsch, Mundartliches aus dem Hunsrück, ZfdMdaa 40 ff. (1911); J. Kehrein, Volkssprache und Wörterbuch von Nassau 215, 279 (Leipzig, 1891); review of F. Veit, Ostdorfer Studien (Tübingen, 1902) by Othmar Meisinger in ZfhdMaa 4.374 ff. (1903).

21 Friedrich Maurer, Sprachschranken, Sprachräume und Sprachbewegungen im Hessischen 93–5 (Giessen, 1930).

22 J. Müller, Die Mundart von Dietschweiler 50 (diss. Kaiserslautern, 1932).

23 P. Lenz, Der Handschuhsheimer Dialekt, 1. Teil Wörterverzeichnis 30–1 (Konstanz, 1887); P. Lenz, Der Handschuhsheimer Dialekt: Nachtrag 16 (Darmstadt, 1892).

24 Othmar Meisinger, Wörterbuch der Rappenauer Mundart 84, 102, 215 (Dortmund, 1906).

25 E. Roedder, Volkssprache und Wortschatz des badischen Frankenlandes 461 (New York, 1936).

26 A. Wasmer, Wortbestand der Mundart von Oberweier (Amt Rastatt), ZfdMaa 209 ff. (1916).

27 P. Lenz, Beiträge zum Wortschatz der badischen Mundarten, ZfdMaa 32 ff. (1917).

28 F. Werk, Fremdwörter in der Mundart von Rheinbischofsheim, ZfdMaa 244 ff. (1913).

29 Fischer 4.1648, 6.1.521, 6.2.2565–6.

30 F. Staub, L. Tobler, Schweizerisches Idiotikon 4.59 and 123 (Frauenfeld, 1889 ff.); J. Hunziker, Aargauer Wörterbuch 178 (Aarau, 1877). Alfred Senn in a recent letter called to my attention the occurrence of the word with masculine gender in Paul Eggenberg, Es Hämpfeli Sunnigs, Bärndütschi Gschichte 74 (Basel).

31 Examples of this type are the following. Swabian (and Standard German) parterr (Parterr) [ḅarḍέ:r, ph-] (Fischer 1.657), as an adverb ‘on the ground floor’, as a neuter noun ‘the ground floor’. The French word parterre has a variety of meanings: ‘flower bed, garden, parterre, pit, audience’; the extension in German to rez-de-chaussée and the subsequent specialization of that meaning took place after borrowing. Swabian Bombon [ḅṍmḅo:] (Fischer 1.1284), in general use, is a borrowing of Fr. bonbon ‘sweet, candy’. The literal Swabian correspondence to Fr. bonbon is Gut(s)le [ut(s)le] (Fischer 3.967), which is used for confections in general, but especially homemade, whereas Bombon is for candies made without flour and bought in stores.

32 Examples of this type are the following. Swabian [awnkho:] (Fischer 1.546), attested for Ostdorf in Balingen, has basically the meaning of ‘gable ornamentation’. It is clearly a borrowing of Fr. avant-corps ‘forepart or front of a building’. Swabian Ambara (Swiss 1.233 [see fn. 30] Ambra, Ambrast) (Fischer 1.164), attested for Tübingen, occurs in the phrase Ambara machen ‘to make something unimportant important; to be formal, ceremonious’. Ambara is a borrowing of Fr. embarras. The Swabian phrase Ambara machen is itself a loan translation of faire des embarras ‘to put on airs, to make a fuss’.

33 See fn. 22.

34 See fn. 20.

35 W. Horn, Einige Fälle von Dissimilation, ZfhdMaa 1.29 (1900); G. G. P. Autenrieth, Pfälzisches Idiotikon 94, 165–7 (Zweibrücken, 1899); Hermann Platz, Über lautlich-begriffliche Wortassimilationen 26 f. (Münster, 1905).

36 See fn. 19.

37 Leo Jutz, Die alemannischen Mundarten §85, §89 (Halle [Saale], 1931).

38 1. Southeastern France: [mécanică] (Thônes, Annecy, Chambéry), A. Constantin, J. Désormaux, Dictionnaire savoyard 266 (Paris, Annecy, 1902); [mécanic] (Balme-de-Sillingy), same source; [mékànÎk] (la Grand' Combe), F. Boillot, Le patois de la commune de la Grand' Combe 199 (Paris, 1910); [mèkànŷịkă] (Vinzelles), A. Dauzat, Glossaire etymologique du patois de Vinzelles 144 (Montpelier, 1915).

2. Alsace: [mέkәnik mεkaník mεkhanik mik] (northern part), [mέkhanik mέkanik míkanik mέkәnik] (central part), [mεx:nik mέkhәnik mekhánik mékanik mέkhanik mέkәnik] (southern part), E. Martin, H. Lienhart, Wörterbuch der elsässischen Mundarten 1.660 (Strassburg 1899).

3. Northeastern France: [mékanik] (Brotte-Lez-Luxeuil), J. Humbert, Glossaire du patois de Brotte-Lez-Luxeuil 52 (Paris, 1939) (= Société de Publications romanes et françaises 21).

4. Further west: [mékànìk] (Saint-Pol), E. Edmont, Lexique Saint-Polois 383 (Saint-Pol, Macon, 1897).

5. Northwestern France: mecanique (pays de Bray-Seine-Inf., Normandy Percy-Dept. Manche, High Normandy Yères), J.-E. Decorde, Dictionnaire du patois du pays de Bray 99–100 (Paris, 1852), R. G. de Beaucoudrey, Le langage normand au début du XXe siècle 300 (Paris, 1911), and A. Delboulle, Glossaire de la vallée d'Yères 222 (Havre, 1876).

6. Southwestern France: [mecanico] (Périgeux), J. Daniel, Dictionnaire Périgourdin 171 (Périgeux, 1914); [meconíco, mecaníco] (Dept. of Aveyron), l'abbé Vayssier, Dictionnaire patois-français du département de l'Aveyron 363 (Rodez, 1879),

39 [mekanika] (Ollon), B. Hasselrot, Etude sur les dialectes d'Ollon et du district d'Aigle (Vaud) 225 (Uppsala, 1937); mécanique (Neuchâtel), W. Pierrehumbert, Dictionnaire historique du parler neuchâtelois et suisse romand 356 (Neuchâtel, 1926).

40 mècanike (Givetois), J. Waslet, Vocabulaire Wallon-Français (Dialecte givetois) 169 (Sedan, 1923).