--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...>
wrote:
> At 10:37:16 AM on Wednesday, September 29, 2004, tgpedersen
> wrote:
>
> > Perhaps I should also point out that there is a
> > development þw- > Germanic kW- (English 'twig', Danish
> > 'kvist';
>
> What's the evidence that these two are cognate? So far as I
> know, the actual development is from MHG tw- to kw- in East
> Middle German dialects; it's not even a general MHG change,
> let alone a Germanic development.
>
Falk & Torp has
Kvist I (liden gren), sv. quist, oldn. kvistr = m.eng. twist "gren,
kvist". Beslegtet er oldn. og n. folk. kvîsl, f. "kløftet gren eller
redskab, arm af en aa" der staar i aflydsforhold til ags.
twisla "arm af en elv", oht. zwisila "gaffelformet gjenstand, gren".
The only other example of tw- > kw- I can find in F&T is
Kvidre, sv qvittra, n. dial. kvitra og skvitra. ... kan sammenlignes
de aabenbart onomatopoietiske oht. zwizzirôn (nht
zwitschern) "kvidre", m.eng. twiteren (eng. twitter) "kvidre":
om /kw/ af /tw/ se kvist.
Torsten