From: Daniel Prohaska
Message: 39145
Date: 2005-07-09
>> Now I wonder, the verb pecare, has this any
>> connection to the german word Pech which
>> roughly means sin, shame or pity? Is the
>> german word dependent on the latin word or
>> the other way around?
>> Carl Hult
Carl,
German <Pech> is derived from Latin <picem> which is also the source of English <pitch>. It was borrowed into German no later than the 7th century as the Latin <c> must still have been pronounced [k] at the time to give the German form.
It was used as a euphemism for "hell" but it continues to have "pitch" as its basic meaning. Its current second meaning "bad luck" is fairly recent and came into more widespread use from 18th century student-jargon, probably prompted by the expression <Pechvogel> "an unlucky person", literally "pitch-bird" from unlucky birds getting stuck on pitch.
Dan