On 2006-07-11 15:26, Daniel J. Milton wrote:
> German <Bildung> "shaping", "forming" as used in the international
> phrase "Bildungsroman" can, as Torsten said, be roughly approximated
> by "building", but it is not a cognate thereof, as Abdullah implied.
> According to AHD, <Bildung> is from MHG <bildunge> from OHG
> <bildunga> from <bilodi> "form", "shape".
> From Buck's "Synonyms" "prob. der. of an adj. *bil- 'fitting,
> becoming', seen also in 'billig' "cheap". Elsewhere Buck relates this
> to various words in other languages including Greek <philos>, but if
> there's a postulated I.-E. root, I haven't found it in the obvious
> references.
In case anyone wonders why Eng. <building> isn't a cognate of <Bildung>,
here's the saga of the verb <build> (in brief). It derives from PGmc.
Buþla- 'dwelling', which reflects still earlier *bHúh2-tlo-, either with
an irregular shortening of the high vowel of the first syllable (not
uncommon in Proto-Germanic) or perhaps with *h2t that coalesced into *tH
already in PIE (Olsen's preaspiration rule). The expected outcomes in OE
include West Saxon <botl> (*þl > tl after a short vowel) and West
Mercian <bold> (*þl > *lþ > ld). The attested umlauted derivatives of
these words are, respectively, <bytlian> 'build' (plus <bytlung>
'edifice', <bytla> 'builder') and <byldan> 'build', the latter
underlying ME bilden, bulden, buylden and the Mod.Eng. word. The
spelling <ui> came from one of those western dialects of ME that
retained the rounded front vowel /y/ and attempted to indicate it
orthographically.
Piotr