Re: Clueless roolz...

--- "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

> At 5:20:58 PM on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, tolgs001
> wrote:
>
> >> Dansk Etymologisk Ordbog
>
> >> igle ["leech"], MDa. egel, igel, No. igle, Sw.
> igel, MLG
> >> egel, OS, OHG igil, Germ. Igel "hedgehog" (really
> "snake
> >> eater"), OE igel; from Gmc. *eGila-, to which
> sideforms
> >> with i: like ON ígull, OHG i:gil, OE i:gel:
> deriv. in
> >> *-ila, *-ula to IE *eg^hi- "leech", to which eg.
> also Gr.
> >> échis "snake", Lith. ez^y~s, Gr. echi~nos
> "hedgehog".
>
> > Are these related to hedgehog, too? I mean
> etymologically.
> > Romanian hârciog (or hîrciog), Hungarian hörcsög
> > /'hör-c^ög/, along with cricetus.
>
> English <hedgehog> is a compound of <hedge> and
> <hog>: the
> hedgehog is an animal with a pig-like snout that
> frequents
> hedgerows. It's first attested in the first half of
> the
> 15th century.
>
> Brian

No chance it could be a folk etymology? I'm assuming
there were hedgehogs in the British Isles before the
15th century.



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