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VII.—Two Modern German Etymologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Extract

Schnörkel in Modern German designates a twisted ornament, a ‘scroll’ or ‘flourish.’ In some of the earlier dictionaries, e. g. in Steinbach's Vollständiges Deutsches Wörter-Buch (Breslau, 1734) and in Frisch's Teutsch-Lateinisches Wörter-Buch (Berlin, 1741), the word occurs as Schnerkel, and this, no doubt, is the more original form; the change of e into ö being due to the influence of the neighboring sch, as in löschen, Schöffe, schöpfen, Schöpfer, schröpfen, schwören, which originated from Middle High German leschen, scheffe, schepfen, schepfere, schrepfen, swern? It is well known that in such cases the vowels ö and e are found interchangeably from a time earlier than the beginning of the sixteenth century. E. g. Luther in his later works clings to the e (in spelling schepffen, schweren, etc.), while in his earlier writings the ö is found at least in a few cases. On the whole the vowel ö is gaining ground; but in some instances the uncertainty between e and ö is not settled before the end of the eighteenth century. It is in accordance with these facts that, although Schnerkel is still used in the first half of the eighteenth century, yet the word is spelled Schnörchel, e. g. in Kramer's Wort-Buch in Teutsch-Italiänischer Sprach (Nürnberg, 1678).

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Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1895

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