Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/29

Alm with its cognates is said to have come from  through, like other words beginning with  (see , ). But as the word for calendar is certainly not, but taquîm ( taccuino), the derivation from - ἀλμενιχιακά, ‘calendar’ (found in the Eccl. Hist. of Eusebius), is much more likely to be correct.   ,, ‘alms, charity,’ from the  almuosan,  alamuosan alamôsan, ; corresponds to  aalmoes,  œlmesse,  alms,  ǫlmusa, ,’ alms.’ The derivation from - ἐλεημοσύνη, ‘sympathy, compassion, alms,’ is incontestable; as the  collateral form elemosyna, elimosina indicates, the - origin was as firmly accepted in the  period as the derivation of  chirihha, ‘church,’ from κυριακόν. Yet the question remains how the ecclesiastical word found its way so early into the languages, so as to become a common possession of the  and Northern Teutons. The absence of a corresponding word is explained by the fact that we obtained the word from the  nations, as the congruent phonetic form proves: common  alimǫsna, in accordance with  aumône,  almosne,  almosna,  limosina; allied also to  almsan,  almušino,  jalmūšnas.   ,, ‘nightmare, incubus,’ from alp(b), , ‘spectre, incubus, nightmare, oppression caused by nightmare’;  a term applied to mythical beings,  œlf,  álfr, ‘elf, goblin’ (the Scandinavians distinguished between fairies of light and darkness); these appear to be identical with the  ṛbhú, ( ‘ingenious, sculptor, artist’), the name of three clever genii (the king of the fairies was ṛbhukšán). By the, nightmare was called œlfâdl, œlfsogoða, ‘elf-malady, elf-sickness (hiccough),’ (lumbago in the dialects is termed awfshots,  ylfa gesceot). further (proper names like, , have  as their first component).   ,, from the  albe, , ‘mountain pasture,’ allied to  alpes, so too  Alpun and Alpi, ‘mountain pastures.’   , ‘mandrake,’ from  alrûne,  alrûna,, ‘mandrake, sorceress’; this, as the component -rûne indicates, is a  term, which has been sup - posed to be connected with old  mythical beings who do their work secretly (  rûna, ‘secret’; see ).  ,, ‘as,’ from als, álse, álsô, ‘likewise, thus, as, as if, because,’ hence  identical with ;  alsô, ‘likewise, like,’ is a compound of al, ‘entirely,’ and sô, ‘thus,’ like the exactly corresponding  ealswâ, whence  as, from eal, ‘entirely,’ and swâ, ‘so.’ ,, related to , like also to as, identical in every respect with the preceding. ,, from the  and  alt,  ‘old’; the corresponding  ald,  eald,  old, have the same meaning;  alþeis (instead of the expected form *alda-), ‘old.’ The West  form al-da- is an old tó- participle ( al-tus, ‘high’), like other   (see under ), and belongs to  alan, ‘to grow up,’  ala, ‘to bring forth’ ( related to  alo.  alim, ‘I nourish’), therefore  ‘grown up.’ Hence perhaps it was used  and chiefly in reckoning age, &c. ( X annos natus), but afterwards it was also used at an early period in an absolute sense, ‘vetus.’ See,.  ,, ‘altar,’ from álter, altâre, altœre, under the constant influence of  altâre, which forms the base. altâri, álteri, found even in ; the word was introduced by Christianity. uses hunsla-staþs, ‘temple-table’;  wîhbed for *wîhbeód sacred table’ (see  and ).   ,, ‘age, antiquity,’ from alter,  altar, , ‘age, old age’ (opposed to youth);  the corresponding  aldar, ‘life, time of life,’  ealdor, ‘life,’  aldr, ‘age, hoary age,’  *aldra-, in framaldrs, ‘of advanced age, in years.’ An abstract term formed from the root al, ‘to grow up, bring forth,’ mentioned under , and the suffix -tro- frequent in  and. See further cognates under.   , see. <section end="Altreise" /> <section begin="Altvordern" /> ,, from the  altvordern,  alt-fordoron,  , ‘forefathers,’  ‘the old former ones,’ from  fordoro, ‘farmer.’ With regard to the signification of alt- in this compound,   and  alt-vater ‘grandfather,’  alt-hêrro, ‘ancestor,’  alt-mâg,’ forefather.’ <section end="Altvordern" /> <section begin="Amboss" /> , ‘anvil,’ from  <section end="Amboss" />