From: tgpedersen
Message: 32831
Date: 2004-05-21
> At 4:29:06 AM on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, tgpedersen wrote:Whichever way, it should not be forgotten that *pol- is probably not
>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> > <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> >> At 7:09:21 AM on Tuesday, May 18, 2004, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> >>> One more thing about Greek <pelekus> "axe" etc: English
> >>> has <pole-axe>, which has nothing to do with a pole.
>
> >> Indeed; it's a 'head-axe' (<poll> 'crown of the head').
>
> > And my beef is with semantics: what would one need a 'head
> > axe' for?
>
> Opening heads, perhaps to let in some sense. Alternatively,
> the term may originally have meant an axe with a particular
> kind of head.
>
> >>> Danish has <bol-økse>, which has little to do with <bol>
> >>> "tree trunk".
>
> Actually, now that I think about it, it may. It appears to
> reflect ON <bolöx> 'a poleaxe, a wood-axe', and I see no
> obvious objection to the notion that <bolöx> contains <bolr>
> 'the boll or trunk of a tree'.
>
> >> Middle Danish had <polöxe>, according to the OED, from MLG
> >> <polexe>. The 'head' word appears to exist (or have
> >> existed) at least in English, Dutch, Low German, Swedish
> >> (dialect), and Danish (<puld>) [OED s.v. <poll>].
>
> > Danish <puld> is used of hats (that part which isn't the
> > brim). Did hatters need special axes?
>
> The <poll> word seems to have referred specifically to the
> crown of the head; from there to 'crown of a hat' is a
> perfectly natural development.
>
> >>> Imitating Vennemann's method, I think I'll propose that
> >>> these two words are folk etymology reinterpretations of
> >>> the original, corresponding to <pelekus> etc.
>
> >> That would require at least two stages of folk
> >> etymologizing.
>
> > Not if the original vacillated between *p-l-/*bh-l-,
> > Nordwestblock etc *p-l-/*b-l-
>
> Irrelevant. If the word in some form were originally simply
> 'axe', 'poll-axe' is one folk etymology, and 'pole-axe' is a
> second. And if the <p-> and <b-> axe words are in origin
> the same, 'boll-axe' is yet a third folk etymology.
>