adventures in etymology

[kaberett]

The context, such as it is, is that I was attempting to persuade a friend that their Norwegian was really definitely and for realsies up to the job of Reading A Knitting Pattern. They responded, dubiously, "I was pretty sure 'genser' would be a honk but it's a sweater, so we're not off to a good start."

Psh, I said. It's the geansaí/gansey word. It's All Fine. You're Fine. (This is, to be clear, a friend with whom Etymology is a longstanding mutual interest.)

Anyway! From here we rapidly realised that (1) it's also the same word as "Guernsey", (2) "Guernsey" and "Jersey" are actually the same word too just wearing different hats, and (picture a slow dawning) (3) THEY BOTH MEAN ISLAND. THAT'S IT. THEY JUST CALLED THE ISLANDS "ISLAND".

Have I mentioned recently that I think humans are great? Because humans are pretty great.

Comments

[kaberett]

there are just SO MANY LEVELS here on which humans are great, and "the existence of etymonline Dot Com is several of them at once"

[alexseanchai]

ACCURATE

[redbird]

I like that.

I wonder if those islands used to have some other names--I thought of this because I grew up in an area where everyone knew what "the Island" meant, and they didn't name their hockey team after some animal or other, it's "the Islanders."

[recessional]

The Island, the River, the Desert: this is how we roll.

[highlyeccentric]

Humans are very great and etymology is fantastic

[hydrangea]

We have this nice island in Sweden that is just called "island land" if you translate it (Öland). I find it amusing.

[white_hart]

Oh, that makes a great deal of sense! (And also makes me feel even less charitable about the "history of British knitting" book I read recently which talked about ganseys, guernseys and jerseys and lnked them together without ever looking at the reasons for the similarity in the names.)

[hairyears]

I never tire of spotting another example of a geographical feature named Hill Hill Hill Hill in successive local languages: but two adjacent Island islands are delightful.

However...

'-Sey' is a common suffix on the names of islands visited by longboats: could Jersey and Guernsey be 'Island Island' islands?

[silveradept]

Humans are usually pretty good at naming things, but our fascination with thing from distant lands does tend to produce our fair share of "Desert desert" kinds of naming schemes.

[steorra]

That's also the etymology of the English word "island": https://www.etymonline.com/word/island#etymonline_v_12267

[kaberett]

indeed they did! Thank you for prompting me to look it up. :)

[kaberett]

I just. PEOPLE. I am charmed.

[kaberett]

... thank you! I hadn't got quite that far, and am charmed that The Perennially Useful Two-Letter Scrabble Word "ea" is implicated in glancing!

[redbird]

And that in turn probably explains the name of Sarnia, Ontario. *smile*

[kaberett]

... good grief, yes, I read your review and I can Quite See that this would be, um, an additional source of exasperation with it.

[kaberett]

Perhaps! The "jer-" and "geurn-" prefixes appear to be of Unknown Meaning, so...

[kaberett]

I just really like people.

[fanf]

There was a discussion of etymonline on a certain orange web site recently, in which I found a link to this blog post extolling the virtues of Webster’s skill at writing definitions http://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary

The best part is where the author compares “eyes suffused with tears, or flowers wet with dew” (Webster) with “wet sidewalk” (the modern dictionary) which is just ❤️💔😭

[conuly]

Well, other than his random sniping at what is absolutely the most common usage of the word "literally" and has been ever since it started meaning anything other than "having to do with letters".

I mean, I do rely on that site all the time, but still.

[conuly]

The Gobi, the Sahara....

[conuly]

THEY JUST CALLED THE ISLANDS "ISLAND".

There's a bridge here that's called the Outerbridge Crossing. It's actually named after some dude named Outerbridge, and I imagine that they were all gung-ho about calling it the Outerbridge Bridge until somebody cruelly shot that down on grounds of the giggles.

[sfred]

OH MY GOODNESS!

Today I realised that 'micro-onde' = 'microwave' means that 'onde' = 'wave' as in 'undulation'. That made me happy.

[kaberett]

!!! Thank you for this. :D