[lit-ideas] The Keel Row
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 20:14:04 EDT
In a message dated 10/29/2004 2:51:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
JLS can give us some thoughts on the oddness of the word, and whether
the Goth "kilpam," "womb" (from which we derive "children") has some
connection--that my SOED is not revealing--to the roots of "kill." Wouldn't
that be strange.
----
Below, the OED etym. for 'kill'.
It is interesting the reference to Scottish forms 'kele' (cf. Tyneside 'The
Keel Row'). Again, Geary knows more about this stuff, since some of the
Northern British folklore (foxhunting, etc.) was imported (or exported, etc.)
to
the South (of America).
Cheers,
JL
--
'kill' from the OED
[Of obscure origin; not found in the cognate langs.
If in OE., its type would be *cyllan, conjecturally referred to an OTeut.
*kuljan, ablaut-variant of *kwaljan, whence OE. cwellan to _QUELL_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_typ
e=word&queryword=kill&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=wM8F-p5MqN9-387&
result_place=5&xrefed=OED&xrefword=quell) ; but the original sense is
against this. Known first in Layamon, and in southern texts, in form cüllen,
küllen. In midl. dial. normally kille(n, kill, the common form in ME.; kelle
is
rare. The usual Sc. form in 15-16th c. was kele, keill, the vowel of which is
difficult to account for. In ME. the pa. tense and pa. pple. varied between
killed and kild; exceptionally the pple. appears as kilt (cf. spilt), now
regarded as an Irishism, and sometimes used jocularly, esp. in sense 6b.]
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