Writing about the Zwetchgencuchen and my time in Germany has brought back to mind two words which were spoken by one of the German Aunts on that same day as we were on the way to see the border in Eastern Germany.
As we drove along the road we suddenly passed through a section of road cut through limestone.
Tante said something in which I distinctly heard the words Cailc which is the Irish word for Chalk, but this was pronounced in a way totally comprehensible in the depths of the Kerry Gaeltacht.
My ears pricked, was I discovering a small pocket of Munster Irish in Eastern Germany?
Next moment a fluffy tail scurried away from the headlights.
True to form Tante said Coinin sin just as we would say in Muríoch;- “That’s a rabbit”
Of course there was no Irish connection, merely a good example of the common roots of both Irish and German.
The Cailc word was Kalk the German for Limestone, the Coinin sin was Kaninchin the German for a little rabbit.
Comments
martine
on August 21, 2010And the old French for rabbit was conil, it only became lapin with the Moyen-âge and the “Roman de Renard”, where the rabbit’s name is Lapin.
The root (for the spanish conejo too) is cuniculus… but it is another story.
Martin
on August 21, 2010And in English you have Coneyskin for rabbit fur, and then there is Coney Island in New York, no doubt once full of rabbits.
padraic
on August 21, 2010Coney Island in New York was named after the island of the same name off Sligo. Also a lot of placenames in Ireland based on Coinicéar (a rabbit warren) – Coneygar, Connigar, Conigar, Ballyconnigar, Cunnagare, etc.
padraic
on August 22, 2010Máire and I were in Sligo recently for a short holiday and I was obviously taken in by this bit of folk history about the origin of Coney Island New York, sponsored no doubt by the tourism interests of the region..
mike o'donnell
on August 22, 2010I remember from O level Biology that
the Latin name was “lepus cuniculus”
—is that also the root for lepping !!
Petra
on August 22, 2010Since this is about language, may I respectfully point out the correct spelling of the two German words you mentioned: “Zwetschgenkuchen” and “Kaninchen”. The second one does not only describe a small rabbit but any rabbit, young or old, wild or domesticated, as opposed to a hare, which is called “Hase”. If you buy Kaninchen meat in the shops you buy something that was reared for culinary purposes (pale, pink, neutral taste). During the hunting season you can get hare meat, which is very gamey, dark and full of lead shot. The difference between chicken and pheasant comes to mind.
Martin
on August 22, 2010I bow, Frau Kindler, gratefully to your corrections.
But still I’m fascinated by “cuniculus” managing to bypass modern French and English and get to Ireland and Germany- and even the US of A.
The OED defines “cony” as (among other unmentionables) : a rabbit- now arch. and dial.
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