Eugene Oh skrev:
> <Väbel> and <jävel> are near-homonyms? I'd like to know how they're
> pronounced! The spelling seems to be rather far apart as it is.
> Eugene

['v\E:b3l] and ['jE:v3l].

The similarity is that you got

<approximant> + /'E:/ + <labial> + /El/

in both words, which turns out to be close
enough for the pun to work.


> 2009/5/7 Benct Philip Jonsson <[log in to unmask]>
> 
>> Andrew Jarrette skrev:
>>
>>> On Wed, 6 May 2009 19:01:47 +0200, Benct Philip Jonsson <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>  Peter Collier skrev:
>>>>> I suspect, but could anyone confirm if the Old High
>>>>> German 'weibón' (to go back and forth) is cognate with
>>>>> modern English 'to waver' (or perhaps 'to weave')?
>>>>>
>>>> It is cognate with neither it seems.  It might be
>>>> that "wave" < OE _wáfian_, but there seems to be
>>>> another OE _wafian_ with a short _a_.  _wáfian_
>>>> should become **_woave_ /wou)v/ in MnE.  There is
>>>> no _*ai_ in the etyma of _weave_ and _wave_.
>>>> A zero-grade of _*waib-_ would have _i_.
>>>> There does seem to be an e-grade _vífa_
>>>> (Pre-Gmc _*weib-_) in ON.  Apparently Torp
>>>> thought _wife_ is cognate but don't ask me how
>>>> (although marriage is confusing at times!)
>>>>
>>>>
>>> The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots lists <wife> as
>>> from
>>> the IE root *ghwi:bh-, which occurs in Tocharian B <kwi:pe> and Tocharian
>>> A
>>> <kip> in the meaning "female pudenda".
>>>
>> I know.  I was rather wondering **how Torp thought _wife_ was connected to
>> _*weibh-_**, nor could I forego the joke about marriage being confusing...
>>
>>  Webster's New World College Dictionary lists <waver> as a Middle English
>>> frequentative of <wave>, from Old English <wafian>, akin to German <waben>
>>> "to fluctuate", from IE *webh- "to move to and fro" (perhaps ultimately
>>> the
>>> same as *webh- "to weave"?AJ).
>>>
>> That's the other _wafian_ (_wăfian_ with a short /a/).
>> The word Pete was asking about is _wáfian_ (_wāfian_
>> with a long /a:/) in Old English; remember Germanic
>> _*ai_ > OE /a:/ but OHG /ei/.
>>
>> BTW I've been laughing all morning.  The connexion
>> between _Feldwebel_ and VACILLARE made me remember
>> the old Swedish routine with a colonel complaining
>> about a _väbel_; it is from before the time you could
>> use 'bad words' on stage or in print, and they got a
>> truckload of fun out of the fact that _väbel_ is a
>> near homonym of _jävel_ 'devil, bastard' by using
>> several idioms and expressions were one would
>> expect _jävel_, but saying _väbel_ instead!
>>
>> /BP 8^)>
>> --
>> Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>  "C'est en vain que nos Josués littéraires crient
>>  à la langue de s'arrêter; les langues ni le soleil
>>  ne s'arrêtent plus. Le jour où elles se *fixent*,
>>  c'est qu'elles meurent."           (Victor Hugo)
>>
>