Richard,
Interestingly (at least to me), I would not be at all aware of the definition of
Leiche, except for having read some years ago about the early horn maker(s) named
Leichnambschnieder (Michael, Johannes and Johannes, II) mentioned, among other
places, in Horace Fitzpatrick's book on the horn & horn-playing. Apparently the
family were in the business of sewing burial clothes at some point before going
into the instrument building business (Schneider meaning tailor in German).
Ain't etymology fun?
Peter HIRSCH
Curiously, I studied this poem in high school - I believe in an anthology
edited by John Ciardi. I've never wondered about it, since we dissected it
once. I still remember the meanings, but not all the etymologies.
The richness of the English language is largely attributable to the polyglot nature of its antecedents, Celtic (Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Breton), lowland German (Angels and Saxons and Jutes, oh my!) and Norman French (the Normans were largely of Viking stock).
Lyke is a cognate of the modern German, die Leiche, a corpse. But tracking back
whinny -> gorse -> modern German, I come up with Stechginster. So we may guess
that whinny is of Celtic origin. And on and on.
Richard Hirsh, no relation
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