Re: Alternating foot

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Jens Elmegård Rasmussen <elme@>

wrote:

> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@>

wrote:

> > > bund "bottom" Danish
> > > botten "bottom" Swedish
> > >
> > > (cf
> > >
> > > vand "water" Danish
> > > vatten "water" Swedish
> > >
> > > Two different case forms in Da. and Sw.?)
> >
> > Hey, isn't <nd> just a Danish spelling of a long /n:/ (with a
> > palatal touch) arising from any of several sources, including

*tn ?

> >
>
> Yes, that is the standard explanation. The old pronunciation /nY/
> (not just a touch of palatality) is secured from an 18th century
> textbook on Danish which compares Danish -ld- and -nd- with

Spanish

> -ll- and -ñ-. (They later went > -ll- and -nn-, obviously, except

in

> spelling, where the insistence of Danish orthograpy of doing

without

> written geminates word-finally made that spelling spread into

roots

> in etymological -ll- and -nn- (vinde, falde, impv vind!, fald!).
> I just don't think the standard explanation of an earlier
> *-tn- > -nY- sounds right. A hypothetical development
> *-Vtn- > *-VDn- > *-Vyn- would get stuck there with all the other
> Danish words in diphthong + -n which show no inclination to
> go > -nY- .
>
>
> Torsten
>

Intriguing, ponderable.
Though, as a speaker of an East-Danish dialect I have always
had the Sprachgefühl that 'bånn' and 'vann' (geminated nn = short
vowel preceding)is shortened from 'botten' and 'vatten' like
Portuguese 'cor' and 'cobra'.
Could you provide more information about this 18th century Spanish-
Danish parleur? It is interesting.
There might be a possibility that auslaut n and l after a short
vowel might be interpreted as lh and nh (Portuguese graphemes)
by a Spanish ear. Cf Russian rendering of Scandinavian l as ль.

Lars