Re: [tied] Discussion of old english néotan and brúcan

On 2006-07-16 21:35, Brian M. Scott wrote:

> At 1:46:29 AM on Sunday, July 16, 2006, Carl Hult wrote:
>> I Saw this rather interesting discussion today about the old
>> english words néotan and brúcan, both with a history far more
>> interesting than I first thought. Brook (brúcan) is alive and
>> fairly well today, that is clear but at least one of the members of
>> this forum seems to be having an idea about neat being in part from
>> the old english néotan. I agree with him.
>
> I don't: the derivation from Anglo-Norman <neet>, <neit> (variants of
> OFr <net> 'clean, pure') offered in the OED is entirely convincing:
> already in the 12th century OFr <net> is found in such senses as
> 'smart, trim, elegant', applied both to people and to things.

What Brian says is certainly true of the adjective <neat> (the ME
meanings were 'worthy, good; pure, fine, elegant' and 'net' [of prices]).

The archaic noun <neat> '(head of) cattle, domestic animal' comes from
OE ne:at (Gmc. *nauta-), related to <ne:otan>, but it's a separate
lexeme with a separate etymology.

Another ME relative of <ne:otan> was <net, niet> 'peasant holding land
from a lord, tenant' (from OE gene:at), now completely obsolete.

Piotr