>But unless there is a secret dairy component in the production of
>Weisswurst, I can't see how the -ch/-k variants could be explained
>with reference to Low vs. High German, which would be the standard
>explanation of that variation elsewhere.
Perhaps -ch is due to the fact that it's final, i.e., no vowel after it.
And perhaps due to a general propensity, from Althochdeutsch times
(the written OHG examples were almost all rather... South German
as well).
Mönch, Mönich, Münch, Münech < OHG munih "monk", cf. Gr.
monachos
Lurch (an amphibian) < Low G. lork < verb luren ['lu:r&n] = lauern
Kelch < OHG kelich < lat calicis [kalikis]
Elch < OHG elaho < *elk-
But OTOH, Knülch/Knilch, low G. "unpleasant" or "despicable guy".
And the North German tendency to pronounce (in High German!)
Flug, Zug, möglich, Burg, Zwerg, Jagd &c as if they were written
Fluch, Zuch, möchlich, Burch (Hamburchj), Zwerch, Jachd. (These
people usually don't utter [g] or [k] in zwanzig, dreißig, vierzig,
fünfzig, sechzig, siebzig, achtzig, neunzig, unlike Southerners (e.g.
Bavarians & Austrians) - always [tzix], and in the Middle German
"belt" [tziS].)
And curiosities: Cham, in northern Bavaria (actually Franconia), at
the border with Thuringia, is pronounced [kam]. Chemnitz in Saxony
[kemnitz] (at least by some).
Compare Zug ("tug"; "traction", "train" etc.) with Zucht "discipline"
& "breeding" < OHG zuht -- both words from ziehen "to draw, tug".
(The Northerners give us a compromise by being prone to pronounce
Zug [tzux] :-))
Bavarian and Jiddisch enk ("euch") is önch in Rhineland, exactly
where the Low German dialects start [ik, et, wat, dat, eten, appel,
he, to, maken, männeken, wibke, söhnke, ut, över, op/up].
NB: zwerch, in Zwerchfell "diaphragm", isn't the same Zwerg ("dwarf")
as above, but an older intermediary form for quer ("across");
< MHG, OHG twerch, dwerch (whereas Zwerg < MHG zwerc, twerc
< OHG (gi)twerc
#
So: the [k]<->[x] correspondences aren't that systematically spread
in the dialectal areas. The "ik make" realm is also fond of [x], and
Flanders and the Netherlands even more than that, if I take into
consideration the conversion of the dry [g] into something similar
to Swiss, Tirolian and Arab velar-uvular things (Gogh, s'Hertogenbosch,
s'Gravenhage, hoogestraat).
>Torsten
George