--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 2011-03-23 at 09:09 +0000, Torsten wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Ah, as I thought:
> > http://runeberg.org/svetym/0785.html
> > Swedish has <schakt>, obviously, because of lack of loan
> > substitution of German sch- with sk-, a late loan, not, as Hock
> > claims, <skakt>, which on the other hand is Danish, called
> > 'fremmedord', "foreign word"
> > by DEO.
>
> The earliest citation in SAOB is for <Skachtenn>, the definite form
> used in the name of a shaft. Also, from 1609: <Hwar man sänker och
> slår igenom taket ifrån dagen till Streket, det kallas en Skakt.>
Live and learn!
The pronunciation is, if ordinary rules apply, [skakt] and [Å¡akt], so the word must have been re-Germanized, possibly in the 17th century with influx of Dutch-financed Walloon miners
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walloons#Walloons_in_Sweden
with the upsurge in Swedish mining
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Copper_Mountain
to finance their extensive wars.
(Note also
<schack>, earlier <skack> "chess"
http://runeberg.org/svetym/0785.html
cf Danish <skak>)
The importation of the word itself may have been connected with the beginning of mining activities in Sweden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Copper_Mountain#History
The point I was trying to make is that while the transfer of mining terminology from German to Swedish may be connected to particular historical events, I am not aware of similar historical events to explain its tranfer to English (nor is Hock, it seems).
BTW, does English know a similar use of <day> for 'topside' in mining terminology (cf. German Tagebau "open pit mine")?
Torsten