At 5:30:26 PM on Monday, July 30, 2007, Rick McCallister
wrote:
> park is an intersting word
It's worth quoting the OED commentary from the draft
revision dated March 2007:
Forms: ME paark, ME parck, ME perk, ME perke, ME (18 in
senses 4, 5) parc, ME-16 parke, ME- park, 16 parcke; Sc.
pre-17 parke, pre-17 perc, pre-17 perke, pre-17 17- pairk,
pre-17 17- park, pre-17 17- perk, 19- paerk (Orkney). [<
Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French <parc>
large enclosed area of land or woodland where one keeps
and raises animals for the hunt (1160-74), enclosed place
planted with fruit trees, orchard (c1220-78), mobile
enclosure where one keeps livestock when they sleep in the
fields, area thus enclosed (1269), large enclosed area of
land or woodland maintained for the decoration of a castle
or country house, or for pleasure or recreation, etc.
(1337), fortified camp (end of the 15th cent.; 1678 in
<parc d'artillerie>), collection of vehicles which an army
makes use of (1823; 1894 without military connotations),
prob. < post-classical Latin <parricus> fence (8th cent.
in Ripuar. Laws as <parracus>, but prob. earlier: see
below), pen for animals (9th cent.), park, enclosure (12th
cent. in a British source; from 13th cent. as <parrocus>),
prob. < an unattested *<parra> pole, rod (cf. Spanish
<parra> artificially supported vine, Catalan <parra> (type
of) vine, Portuguese <parra> grapevine leaf; perh. ult.
related to the base of Old French <barre> BAR n.1) +
<-icus> -IC suffix. Cf. post-classical Latin <parcus>
park, enclosure (freq. from 9th cent. in British sources),
fence (12th cent. in a British source), pen for animals
(freq. from 13th cent. in British sources), Old Occitan,
Occitan <pargue, parc>, Italian <parco> (a1348; prob. <
French), Spanish <parque> (1512; < French; 1436 as
<parco>, prob. < Italian), Portuguese <parque> (16th
cent.; < French), German <Park> (from early 17th cent. in
travel writings, after English and French; 15th cent. in
Middle High German in sense 'compound, enclosure'; <
French). Cf. PARC n.
Currency of post-classical Latin <parricus> earlier than
the date of its first recorded attestation is suggested by
the probable early West Germanic loan represented by
PARROCK n., and also by the widespread currency of
reflexes in Gallo-Romance dialects and in northern Italy.
Most (although not all) recent commentators have regarded
it as less likely that the word is a borrowing from
Germanic into Latin (as frequently suggested in the past),
on account of: (1) the initial p- (which is very rare in
Germanic (see P n.), although it might be explained if the
word were an earlier borrowing in Germanic from another
language and not an inherited Indo-European word; this
might also explain the fact that the word is recorded only
in West Germanic); (2) the lack of evidence for a
corresponding simplex in Germanic (although see PARROCK n.
for discussion of PAR n.2 and PAR v.1); (3) the Latin
suffix (although it is uncertain whether the vocalism of
the last syllable in the continental West Germanic forms
rules out the Germanic suffix -OCK suffix); (4) the
possibility of Celtic cognates for the Latin word
(although it is unclear what, if any, evidence there is to
support the forms posited, e.g. Welsh <parr> enclosed
place, Breton <par> plot of land); and (5) the possible
connection with the base of Old French <barre> BAR n.1
There is thus no completely convincing argument for either
a Latin or a Germanic origin. In favour of a Germanic
origin, J. Corominas (Diccionario Crítico Etimológico de
la Lengua Castellana (1985) s.v. <parra>) argues that
Occitan <parran> enclosure, garden (a1168) is likely to be
a borrowing from Germanic on formal grounds, and hence
that the same is likely to apply for the other Romance
words.
Welsh <parc> and Irish <páirc> are either < English or
directly < French; Middle Breton, Breton <park> is <
French.
S.v. <parrock>:
Forms: OE pearric (perh. transmission error), OE pearroc,
OE pearrvc (rare), OE pearuc (rare), OE-eME pearruc, eME
parruc, ME parrok, ME parroke, 15 paroche, 15 parocke, 15
parrocke, 15-16 parock, 15- parrock, 16 paroc (hist.);
Eng. regional 16 parruck (north.), 16 purrach (south.), 16
purrock (south.), 18 parrack, 18- pairock (north.), 18-
parrick, 18- perrick (north.), 19- parrak (north.); Sc. 17
parock, 17 19- parreck, 18 parich, 18 parrich, 18 parrok,
18- parrach, 18- parrick, 18- parrock, 19- parack, 19-
parrack, 19- parroch. Cf. PADDOCK n.2 [Cognate with Middle
Dutch <parc, perc, paerc, parric, perric> enclosed place,
park (Dutch <perk> flowerbed, park enclosure with animals,
park; the Dutch word app. shows semantic influence from
French <parc> PARK n. from an early date, and latterly
also from English PARK n.), Middle Low German <perk>
enclosure, Old High German <pfarrih, pferrih> pen,
enclosure, hurdle (Middle High German <pherrich, pferrich,
pferich, pherch> means of enclosure, pen, German <Pferch>
pen, fold (for sheep, etc.); > <pferchen> to fold, pen (an
animal) (16th cent.)), further etymology uncertain and
disputed; perh. < post-classical Latin <parricus> (see
PARK n. and discussion s.v.), although if so PAR n.2 and
PAR v.1 present difficulties, unless they are of a
completely different origin (it seems unlikely that they
show a borrowing from Latin *<parra>). In English the
ending prob. shows assimilation to the suffix -OCK suffix.
Cf. PADDOCK n.2
It is uncertain whether (as widely held by earlier
scholars) Middle Low German <parre>, Old High German
<pharra> (Middle High German <pharre>, German <Pfarre>)
parish are ultimately from the same base; if so, they show
semantic and perh. also formal influence from
post-classical Latin <parochia> (see PARISH n.), but it is
also possible that they show borrowings of this word.
Cf. Welsh <parwg> (< Middle English <parrock>).
>>> And I'm inclined to accept the 2005 OED assessment of
>>> <paddock> as probably a variant of <parrock>, OE
>>> <pearroc, pearruc> 'fence by which a space is enclosed;
>>> enclosure, enclosed land', cognate with OHG <pfarrih,
>>> pferrih> 'a pen, enclosure, hurdle', MLG <perk>
>>> 'enclosure', MDu <parc, perc, paerc, parric, perric>
>>> 'enclosed place, park' (influenced by Fr. <parc>), and
>>> unrelated to <pad>.
>> Not true;
On the contrary, it most certainly *is* true that I'm
inclined to accept the derivation from <parrock>.
Presumably you meant to say that the *derivation* is wrong,
which of course means only that you don't accept it. The
evidence, however, favors my view: <paddock> 'a small field
or enclosure' is attested only from 1547.
>> the *-Vk suffix is very common in NWBlock words
Even if this is true, so what? It's a Common Gmc.
diminutive suffix. 'This word has a common NWBlock feature,
so it must be a NWBlock word' would be a less than
convincing argument even if the feature in question weren't
well-known elsewhere; under the existing circumstances it's
a joke.
Brian