--- tgpedersen <
tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> DEO says something like
> Da stræbe, Sw sträva "strive" (but regular),
> supposedly loans from MLG
> streven "be stiff, stretch intr.; toil"
> corresponding to Dutch
> streven, Germ streben "reach up, stretch or direct
> oneself; turn in a
> certain direction [cf. Da. stræbepille "buttress"]",
> from Gmc.
> *striBa- etc. Now why is it so certain that the
> English word is from OFr.?
****GK: Here's where I jump in with a question I've
wanted to settle for along time. First let me quote
the relevant passage (Mierow's translation) from
Jordanes (258): "When they had mourned him [Attila-
GK]with such lamentations, a strava, as they call it,
was celebrated over his tomb with great revelling.
They gave way in turn to the extremes of feeling and
displayed funereal grief alternating with joy." The
favourite interpretation of "strava" is that it refers
to some sort of foodfest (indeed some linguists
thought the word was Slavic). I wonder. The activities
described by Jordanes need not indicate a meal, but
something else entirely. Any chance that this ordanes
"strava" is related to stra:va above?****
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