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Etymology
Wirricowe from wirry (worry) [1] in the sense of to harrass or pester and cowe [2] a hobgoblin.
Perhaps i was a bit strong on the wishful thinking and in light of your mentioning uisge to whisky, [ˈurɪsk] to [ˈwɪrɪ] or [ˈwʌrɪ] is perhaps within the realms of possibility. Since the second element, whether, cowe or carle, both have initial /k/ it may have subsumed the final /sk/ of urisk. What also needs to be adressed is whether the phonological history of urisk ties in with such an adoption into Scots (DOST cites Wirry ratoune and Wirry hen). Are there other parallels for the word-boundary cluster /rɪsk 'k-/ being reduced to /-rɪ 'k-/? I'd still need more evidence to be convinced of probably. The argument for accepting wirry (worry) is based on phonology and its being semantically meaningful, which is at least some evidence. Evidence found in the SND and DOST, whereas urisk seems to be original research, which without further evidence, is based on phonological and semantical coincidence. I assume the etymologies of cowe and carle are undisputed. Did urisk, in what ever form, ever have any widespread currency in Lowland Scotland? 84.135.202.75 22:40, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
I agree with you that most etymologies are controversial and that those which do not line up with the evidence should be treated with suspicion. The worry in worrycow isn't likely to be akin to the English/ Scots worry in its old sense of harassment. That is more likely a folk etymology based on spurious assumptions that the worry is somehow related to Germanic words such as Old Frisian wergia, Middle Dutch worgen and Modern German würgen. Such explanations were eagerly accepted by the SND with their anti- Gaelic bias inherited from Jamieson. As MacKay rightly shows the worry in worrycow is possibly akin to the Gaeluc ùruisg and unlikely to be akin to worry in its old sense of harassment. MacKay showing us that that worry is from the Gaelic uaire. Which of course makes the article fine as it is unless the Wirricowe as a creature is akin the the Urisk, which has nothing to do with etymology. 84.135.198.74 08:39, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
Etymology
Wirricowe from wirry (worry) [1] in the sense of to harrass or pester and cowe [2] a hobgoblin.
Perhaps i was a bit strong on the wishful thinking and in light of your mentioning uisge to whisky, [ˈurɪsk] to [ˈwɪrɪ] or [ˈwʌrɪ] is perhaps within the realms of possibility. Since the second element, whether, cowe or carle, both have initial /k/ it may have subsumed the final /sk/ of urisk. What also needs to be adressed is whether the phonological history of urisk ties in with such an adoption into Scots (DOST cites Wirry ratoune and Wirry hen). Are there other parallels for the word-boundary cluster /rɪsk 'k-/ being reduced to /-rɪ 'k-/? I'd still need more evidence to be convinced of probably. The argument for accepting wirry (worry) is based on phonology and its being semantically meaningful, which is at least some evidence. Evidence found in the SND and DOST, whereas urisk seems to be original research, which without further evidence, is based on phonological and semantical coincidence. I assume the etymologies of cowe and carle are undisputed. Did urisk, in what ever form, ever have any widespread currency in Lowland Scotland? 84.135.202.75 22:40, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
I agree with you that most etymologies are controversial and that those which do not line up with the evidence should be treated with suspicion. The worry in worrycow isn't likely to be akin to the English/ Scots worry in its old sense of harassment. That is more likely a folk etymology based on spurious assumptions that the worry is somehow related to Germanic words such as Old Frisian wergia, Middle Dutch worgen and Modern German würgen. Such explanations were eagerly accepted by the SND with their anti- Gaelic bias inherited from Jamieson. As MacKay rightly shows the worry in worrycow is possibly akin to the Gaeluc ùruisg and unlikely to be akin to worry in its old sense of harassment. MacKay showing us that that worry is from the Gaelic uaire. Which of course makes the article fine as it is unless the Wirricowe as a creature is akin the the Urisk, which has nothing to do with etymology. 84.135.198.74 08:39, 27 October 2006 (UTC)