Saturday, April 24, 2010

Gloves vs. Hand-shoes

The word "glove" in English is most likely Germanic (compare Faroese "glógvi"), but every other Germanic language uses "hand-shoe" as the word for glove.

Here's proof:

Icelandic: hanzki (hönd + skór)
Faroese: handski (hond + skógvur)
Norwegian: hanske (hånd + sko)
Danish: hanske (hånd + sko)
Swedish: handske (hand + sko)
Frisian:
Low German: Haunschtje (Haund + Schooh)
Dutch: handschoen (hand + schoen)
High German: Handschuh (Hand + Schuh)

In an even odder compound, Icelandic has a term for arm, "handleggur," which literally means hand-leg.

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