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VII.—Two Modern German Etymologies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
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Schnörkel in Modern German designates a twisted ornament, a ‘scroll’ or ‘flourish.’ In some of the earlier dictionaries, e. g. in Steinbach's Vollständiges Deutsches Wörter-Buch (Breslau, 1734) and in Frisch's Teutsch-Lateinisches Wörter-Buch (Berlin, 1741), the word occurs as Schnerkel, and this, no doubt, is the more original form; the change of e into ö being due to the influence of the neighboring sch, as in löschen, Schöffe, schöpfen, Schöpfer, schröpfen, schwören, which originated from Middle High German leschen, scheffe, schepfen, schepfere, schrepfen, swern? It is well known that in such cases the vowels ö and e are found interchangeably from a time earlier than the beginning of the sixteenth century. E. g. Luther in his later works clings to the e (in spelling schepffen, schweren, etc.), while in his earlier writings the ö is found at least in a few cases. On the whole the vowel ö is gaining ground; but in some instances the uncertainty between e and ö is not settled before the end of the eighteenth century. It is in accordance with these facts that, although Schnerkel is still used in the first half of the eighteenth century, yet the word is spelled Schnörchel, e. g. in Kramer's Wort-Buch in Teutsch-Italiänischer Sprach (Nürnberg, 1678).
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1895
References
page 295 note 1 A sketch of this paper was read at a Joint Meeting of the American Philological Societies in Philadelphia on December 28th, 1894.
page 295 note 2 Cf. Kluge's Etymolog. Wörterb. d. deutschen Sprache 5 (Strassburg, 1894), s. v. Schnörke.
page 295 note 3 Cf. Weigand's Deutsches Wörterbuch 4, II (Giessen, 1882), s. v. Schnörkel.
page 295 note 1 See K. v. Bahder, Grundlagen des nhd. Lautsystems (Strassburg, 1890), p. 168-179, and Wilmanns, Deutsche Grammatik, I (Strassburg, 1893), p. 211 seq.
page 295 note 2 See Weigand, l. c., and Schmeller, Bairisches Wörterbuch 2, II, p. 582.
page 295 note 3 Compare Old Norse snara, f. ‘sling,’ from ∗ snarha, and Fick, Vergl. Wörterb.3, III, p. 350.
page 295 note 4 See above, note 2.
page 295 note 1 This word schrenkel is also found in Middle Low German. It is quoted in Schiller-Lübben's Mittelniederd. Wörterb., s. v. schrenkel from an Oldenburg charter from 1575, in which it says: ein sulueren gordel, noch II sulueren schrenkel. In Lübben-Walther's Mittelniederd. Handwörterbuch it is interpreted “ein Geschmeide: Spange?” It seems to mean in the above passage the buckle ('Schnalle') of a belt: a meaning whose connection with that of the Middle High German word is obvious.
page 295 note 2 See Graff, Althochd. Sprachschatz, vol. VI, p. 582 seq.
page 295 note 3 The ch of screnchen is of the same nature as that of Kramer's Schnörchel, mentioned above p. 296.
page 295 note 1 See, e. g., Janssen's Index to Kluge's Etymol. Dictionary (Strassburg, 1890), p. 256, s. v. Metathesis, and Wilmanns, D. Gramm., I, p. 143 seq.
page 295 note 2 Weinhold, Mittelhochd. Gramm., § 146.
page 295 note 3 See H. Pedersen in Kuhn's Zeitschr., vol. 32, p. 251.
page 295 note 4 See Lexer, Mittelhochd. Handwörterbuch, s. v. smorotzen and smorotzer.
page 295 note 1 Ed. by Barack in 4 Voll. = Bibliothek des Litterar. Vereins, Bd. 91-94 (Stuttgart, 1868-69).
page 295 note 2 I quote from the second edition (Tiguri, 1556), a copy of which (from the collection of the late Professor Sauppe) is found in the library of Bryn Mawr College.
page 295 note 1 Vol. II (4th ed., Giessen, 1882), s. v. schmarotzen.
page 295 note 2 See Kluge's Etymol. Wörterb.5, s. v. schmarotzen.
page 295 note 3 In the new edition, by W. Scherer, of Vol. II (Berlin, 1878), p. 209.
page 295 note 4 Cf. Weinhold, Mittelhochd. Gramm., § 238.
page 295 note 5 See Grimm, Dt. Gr., II2, p. 217 seq. and 995 seq.; Weinhold, Alemannische Gramm., § 250, and Bairische Gramm., § 208.
page 295 note 1 ih arrofozu giborganu ‘eructabo abscondita,’ Tat. 74, 3.
page 295 note 2 thaz skef in mittemo sêuue uuas givvuorphozit mit then undon ‘navis autem in medio mari iactabatur fluctibus,’ Tat. 81, 1.
page 295 note 3 See Schmeller, Bair. Wörterb.; Grimm, Dt. Gr., l. c., and Weinhold, Bair. Gr., l. c.
page 295 note ∗ See Kluge, Etym. Wtb., l. c.
page 295 note 1 Schmeller, Bair. Wörterb.2, II, p. 549; Müller-Zarncke, Mittelhochd. Wörterb., II, 2, p. 433 b.
page 295 note 2 Hugo von Trimberg wrote his didactic poem Der Renner in Bamberg at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century. The exact date at which the poem was finished is as little known as the year in which the poet died; yet it appears that the poem was not begun before 1296, and finished later than 1313. See E. J. Wölfel in the Zeitschr. f. dt. Allert., vol. 18 (1884), pp. 145-162.
page 295 note 1 See Müller-Zarncke's and Lexer's MHG. dictionaries. The form smieren is kept in Bavar. schmieren ‘ to smile;’ Schmeller, Bair. Wörterb.2, II, p. 556.
page 295 note 2 Renner, v. 14117: smollen unde swîgen.
page 295 note 3 Cf. Lexer, Mittelhochd. Handwörterb., s. v. smollen.
page 295 note 4 This change may be brought under the general head of deterioration of meaning, examples of which from Mod. German are given in Janssen's Index to Kluge's Etymol. Dict., p. 269, s. v. ‘Verschlechterung der Bedeutung.'
page 295 note 1 With the only exception, to my knowledge, of Schade, who in his Altd. Wörterb.2, s. v. smollen omits the 'schmarotzen' and gives ‘gieren’ with a question mark.
page 295 note 1 See Behaghel in Paul's Grundriss der German. Philologie, I, p. 255; Kluge, Et. Wtb., s. v. lebendig.
page 295 note 2 E. g. Goethe's Faust, I, 2054:
Mit welcher Freude, welchem Nutzen,
Wirst du den Cursum durchschmarutzen!
page 295 note 3 See the quotations for these and other examples in Weinhold's Mittelhochd. Gramm., § 51.