[frivolity] I just had an etymological realisation

[kaberett]

The standard German for cream is Rahm.

The Austrian for cream is Obers.

It has only just occurred to me that that's as in ober as in "upper" or "above" as in the floaty bits.

Comments

from @theirishfor.twitter

[angelofthenorth]

The Irish for Supreme Court is an Chúirt Uachtarach.

Uachtar means upper/higher as well as meaning cream.

[vass]

Apparently Rahm means "high or lofty" (רם) in Hebrew. I found this out via researching why the former Mayor of Chicago would be named Cream in German.

[katzenfabrik]

Oh!!!

[sfred]

<3

[steorra]

So much fun etymology in this post and its comments. Thank you.

[ghoti]

words are fun

[fyreharper]

:D

[ironed_orchid]

I love languages.

[khronos_keeper]

:D Haha, my only way of understanding any dialect of German is dissembling it into shared etymology with English, so I 100% get this.

(On a weird sidenote, rahm twigs my Arabic, where "rahim" means mercy. Which also reminds me of other related language dissembling. The word for cream in Arabic is labna, and one of my Arabic professors opined that this may be the reason why Lebanon is so named, as being the land of milk/cream and honey. My Lebanese roommate was delighted at this, since she had never thought of it before, as Lebanon has historically been known regionally for its honey and milk.)