Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/279

---

since,’ represents un- under the influence of Du. on, ‘un-.’ —

Ohn- in Ohnmacht is due to the attempt to assign a more intelligible meaning to Omacht, which originated in OHG. and MidHG. â-maht; the prefix ô from the old â had become obscure in the compound. With regard to OHG. â, ‘un-,’ comp. â-teili, ‘having no share in,’ MidHG. â-sętze, ‘unoccupied,’ AS. œ̂-men, ‘devoid of men.’ —

ohngefähr, adj., ‘casual, accidental,’ adv., ‘about, not far from,’ from MidHG. ân gevœre, mostly ân gevœrde, ‘without evil intention, without deceit.’

Ohr, n., from the equiv. MidHG. ôre, ôr, n., OHG. ôra, n., ‘ear’; corresponding terms are found in all the Teut. languages; OSax. ôra, Du. oor, AS. eáre, n., E. ear, OIc. eyra (with mutation on account of r, equiv. to Goth. and Teut. z), Goth. ausô, n., ‘ear.’ Like many other terms for parts of the body (comp. Fuß, Herz, Nagel, Niere, &c.), this word occurs also in other Aryan languages, Lat. auris for *ausis (to which aus-cultare is akin, see hören), Gr. οὖς (from *οῦσος), gen. ὦτός from (οὐσατός, allied to an n- stem like the Teut. cognates), OSlov. ucho (gen. ušese), n., ‘ear,’ from ausos (with the dual uši), Lith. ausis. Comp. the following word.

Öhr, n., ‘eye’ (of a needle), from MidHG. œre, œr, n., ‘ear-like opening, eye (of a needle), hole in a handle, handle,’ so too late OHG. ôri, n.; a derivative of OHG. ôra, ‘ear’; comp. further Öse. Moreover, Gr. οὖς, E. ear, and Du. oor also signify ‘handle.’

Ohrfeige, f., ‘box on the ear,’ first occurs in early ModHG., similar to Du. oorvijg; usually regarded as a facetious corruption of Du. oorveeg, ‘box on the ear,’ in which veeg (cognate with ModHG. fegen) signifies ‘stroke, cut.’ It may, like Dachtel, Kopfnüsse, Maulschelle (prop. a kind of pastry), be a euphemistic expression.

Öl, n., from the equiv. MidHG. öle, öl, n. (with the variants ole, ol, and olei), OHG. olei, oli, n., ‘oil’; corresponding to OSax. olig; Du. olie, AS. ele, n., ‘oil.’ Lat. oleum, ‘oil,’ passed into HG. before the 8th. cent. Goth. adopted the term probably even half a century earlier from the Lat., the only assumption that can explain the remarkable Goth. form alêw. The approximate source of E. oil, MidE. oile, is OFr. oil, which with its Rom. cognates. (ModFr. huile) are also based on Lat. oleum.

Oleander, m., ‘oleander, rose-bay,’

first occurs in early ModHG., from the equiv. Fr. oléandre, or rather Ital. oleandro.

Olive, f., ‘olive,’ from MidHG. olîve, f. and m., from Lat. oliva.

Onkel, m., ‘uncle,’ ModHG. only, from Fr. oncle.

opfern, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. opfern, OHG. opfarôn, ‘to sacrifice’; so too OSax. offrón, Du. offeren, AS. offrian, ‘to sacrifice,’ whence E. to offer, under the influence of Fr. offrir. Introduced by the Church from Lat. offerre. With regard to the change of accent in Teut., comp. predigen, from praedicare, in which the verbal particle likewise assumed the accent. —

Opfer, n., ‘offering, sacrifice,’ from MidHG. opfer, OHG. opfar, n., is not based on a Lat. word, but coined from the G. vb. (comp. Handel); see also Oblate. Moreover, the Teutons had their own special word for ‘to sacrifice’; Goth. and AS. blôtan, OIc. blóta, OHG. bluoȥan.

Orden, m., ‘order, class, badge,’ from MidHG. orden, m., ‘rule, regulation, series, management, decree, rank, spiritual order’; borrowed from Lat. ordin-em (acc. of ordo), even in the OHG. period; comp. OHG. ordina, f., whence ordinhaft. The oblique case of the Lat. word determined the form of the OHG. term; so too in Kreuz, Abt, &c. —

ordnen, ‘to order, regulate,’ even in MidHG. ordenen, OHG. ordinôn, formed from Lat. ordinare.

Orgel, f., ‘organ’ (mus. instrument), from MidHG. organâ, orgene, OHG. organâ, f., of which a rare variant in l occurs, OHG. orgela, MidHG. orgel, f., ‘organ.’ OHG. organa is derived from MidLat. organum (Ital. organo, Fr. orgue, E. organ), or rather its plur. organa, ‘organ.’ Properly, however, “organa dicuntur omnia instrumenta musicorum; non solum illud organum dicitur quod grande est et inflatur follibus, &c.” (Augustine). Organs were known to the MidEurop. Teutons as early as the latter half of the 8th cent., espec. in the reign of Charlemagne, for Charlemagne himself received a magnificent organ, which was described by a monk of St. Gall, as a present from the Byzantine emperor Michael.

Orkan, m., ModHG. only, from the equiv. Du. orkaan, E. hurricane; comp. Fr. ouragan, Ital. uracano, ‘hurricane’; “it is a modern word introduced from America, said to be of Caribbean origin.”