Re: [tied] to yelp

Cognate to what?! They are each of different origin! Ger. kläffen might, at least in theory, be an ablaut variant of the now obsolete English verb <clepe> (OE clipian ~ cleopian 'call'), but not of <yelp>, which has its own set of continental cognates (e.g. MHG galf 'outcry, barking'). The Romanian word, if not an independent onomatopoeia (the cluster /kl-/ has a phonaesthetic value in several European languages) may be a wandering loan from German (incidentally, Rom. klopot 'bell' comes from Slavic). Alb. leh can't be related to any of the above by any stretch of the imagination. If etymologised as *la:-ske-, it _could_ be relater to Slavic *lajati 'bark', though one's always got to be careful with potentially expressive words.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: "alex_lycos" <altamix@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2003 11:04 PM
Subject: [tied] to yelp


> yelp - O.E. gelpan (Anglian), gielpan (W.Saxon) "to boast," from P.Gmc.
> *gelpanan. Meaning "quick, sharp bark or cry" (n.) is c.1500.
>
> German : klaffen, kläffen MHD="klaffen", AHD="klafo:n"
> Albanian : leh (lost of k)
> Romanian : clefãi
>
> Rom. Word is given as onomatopoeic formation and all the derivatives as
> coming from this onomatopoeia Semantically is no difference. In all
> languages means " to bark"
>
> Question: can we find there slavic cognates too ?
>
> Alex