From: Rick McCallister
Message: 65614
Date: 2010-01-09
--- In cybalist@... s.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@... > wrote:
>
> At 9:19:31 PM on Thursday, January 7, 2010, dgkilday57
> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >>> In <himilizzi> usw. the Gmc. suffix *-itja apparently
> >>> functions as a collective, parallel to its use in OE
> >>> <Elmet> 'Elmwood' (cf. Kluge, Nom. Stammb. 2. Aufl. 36).
>
> I meant to address this before. My understanding is that
> the OE name is borrowed from Brit. *Elmet- (whence <Elfed>,
> the name of a cantref in Dyfed), and that Hamp at some point
> suggested that a Brit. *lim(-e:ton) 'elm-grove' might be
> involved.
All right, that works well, and explains the isolation of <Elmet>, which thus cannot be used as a parallel to <himilizzi>.
DGK
Was there ever some type of folk etymology between elm and elf?