From: xigung
Message: 3834
Date: 2003-11-19
> the Glossary in 'Sweet´s Anglo-Saxon Reader' cites:I have often seen cognate words having different genders in
>
> lagu f. law from ON. *lagu, lög' ie not lögr
> Zoega´s Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic lists 'lög' as neuter
> plural.
>
> Again, I´m no expert but just as strong verbs could become weak verbs by
> analogy with other verbs, I couldn´t see why a neuter noun couldn´t
> become a feminine noun by a similar process. Indeed, almost all modern
> english nouns have become 'de-sexed' despite being originally masculine,
> feminine or neuter.
>
> Alysseann
>
>
>
>
> I'm trying to find out whether Old English <lagu> is a loan word from
> Old
> Norse or a cognate. English scholar Roger Lass argues that it cannot be
> a
> loan because ON <lögr> is a masculine stem whereas OE <lagu> is a
> feminine
> u-stem. Opinions? Thank you.
>
> Dan