--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alex" wrote:
> Frank Verhoft wrote:
>
>>> which should be the cognates in other Germanic languages for
>>> english "husk"?
>>
>> Middle Dutch: hu:sken (house+dim. -ken, little house)
>> Low German: hu:ske
[...]
> this is the accepted possible etymology of the English husk.
One etimology, according to attestation in ME only from XIV-th
century a.D. on.
> So far I could gather the info:
>
> husk - 1392, huske "dry, outer skin of certain fruits and seeds,"
> perhaps from M.Du. huuskyn "little house, core of fruit, case,"
> dim. of huus "house."
Cf. Encarta, "origin uncertain: perhaps from Low German hu:ske
`little house, cover.`".
Cf. American Heritage, it's from "Middle English, probably
diminutive of hus, house; akin to Middle Dutch hu:skijn, little
house, core of an apple."
Cf. Webster 1913, "Prob. for hulsk, and from the same root as
hull a husk."
Cf. Macquarie Dict., "Middle English huske, from hus- (cf. Old
English hosu pod, husk) + -k suffix. See -OCK"
Cf. Century Unabriged Dict., "< ME. <husk>, <huske> = Norw. <husk>
= Sw. dial. <hysk>, <hösk> = Dan. dial. <hösken>; prob. from orig.
<*hulsk> = MD. <hulsche> = MHG <huldsche>, <hulsche>, a husk, hull,
a later form (with orig. term. <-s>, <-se>, conformed to <-sch>,
<-sche>, AS. <-sc>, E. <-sh> of MD. <hulse>, D. <hulze> = OHG. hulsa,
MHG. <hulse>, <hülse>, G. <hülse>, a husk, a hull".
> The meaning of the "cover" for some fruits shouldn't be related to
> "little house"
... because of Alex' will. No, the shell or the skin of certain
fruits cannot be compared with a little house for its contents, not
in English and certainly not in Low German nor in Middle Dutch...
> specialy when in other IE language
That is an intricate way to say "Romanian".
> exist the same meaning as in English and an appropiate phonetical
> form.
... pointing out very clearly to a late loanword.
> I am thinking now at Rom. "hoaspã" ( < *hospe/*hospa) wich means
> simply "husk".
Why I'm not surprised?! :-)
Of course, those reconstructed forms are Alex' exclusive creation.
Meanwhile, Romanian knows no inherited /h/, all words containing
this phoneme are either late coming loanwords (after dialectal
separation), or regional phonetic variants for words without any
etymological /h/ (as in "hulpe/vulpe" or "hier/fier"). Balkan
Romance did not have the phoneme /h/. Period.
> with this question I tried to find out more for explaining the Rom.
> final "p" since for the initial "h" there can have been a PIE *kh-
That's already too much.
> hoaspã - cf. DEX "husk", unknown etymology
Might be some strange pronunciation of a Germanic word which had
a non-vanishing impact on Romanians, maybe with some yet to be
cleared intermediate. No substrate.
Marius Iacomi