I'm fairly convinced that the etymology of "bloody" was as a blasphemy referring to Jesus' blood, cf. other references to crucifixion in the obsolete "zounds" (God's wounds) and "Gadzooks" or "zooks" (God's hooks = nails), so omitting or altering "God". All very bloody.



Sent from my Galaxy



-------- Original message --------
From: Tom Wolber <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 06/12/2022 10:49 (GMT+00:00)
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EXT] Re: Questions questions (just a little one)

I don't have any hard etymological evidence, but I have always thought the connection was obvious and told my students so. If you are "krank," you tend to be cranky. There are many such hidden connections between the two languages, e.g., Zimmer / timber, Zaun / town, Zeit / tide, Garten / yard, etc. I am also fairly convinced that the very British term "bloody" has nothing to do with blood, but is related to the German adjective "blöd(e)," meaning dumb, silly, feeble-inded, idiotic, naive. (Tom Wolber, 12/6/22) 

On Tue, Dec 6, 2022 at 5:29 AM Naomi Segal <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello colleagues

 

A friend of mine is curious to know: is there any connection btw the German krank & the English word ‘cranky’?

 

Thanks for your speed & all-knowingness!

Naomi

 

 

Professor Naomi Segal

Professor Emerita, Institute of Languages, Cultures & Societies

School of Advanced Study, University of London

Senate House, Malet St., London WCIE 7HU, UK

 

Honorary Fellow, Queens' College Cambridge

Member of the Academia Europaea

Academic Associate of the British Psychoanalytical Society

Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes académiques

 

tel: +44 (0)20 7272 6438

email: [log in to unmask]

webpage: https://research.sas.ac.uk/institute-imlr/fellow/149/professor-naomi-segal/

Cultural Literacy Everywhere: www.cle.world

 

 

 


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