At 4:47:34 AM on Thursday, June 12, 2008, tgpedersen wrote:
> As for couch grass, that must be related to a different
> root eg. *gWih3w- "live" (cf. Da. 'kvikgræs' "couch
> grass", or something else, is 'couch' related?)
This <couch> is. Couch grass is also quitch grass, and
<quitch> directly continues OE <cwice>; <couch> seems
originally to have represented /kutS/, so the development
must have been something like /wi/ > /uj/ > /u/. It's also
quick grass, twitch (with the opposite development from that
seen in German quer < OHG twerh), and in the U.S. quack
grass.
Brian