Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/280

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Orlogschiff, n., ModHG. only, formed from the equiv. Du. oorlogsschip, n., ‘man-of-war,’ which is derived from orlog, ‘war,’ corresponding to OSax. orlagi, ‘war,’ AS. orlege, MidHG. urliuge, OHG. urliugi, ‘war.’

Ort (1.), m., ‘awl,’ in this sense ModHG. only, and identical with Ort (2).

Ort (2.), m., ‘place, spot, region,’ from MidHG. ort, n. and m., ‘sharp point end, beginning, corner, angle, border, place,’ OHG. ort, m. and n., does not occur in the ModHG. sense of ‘place.’ The meaning ‘point, corner,’ is the orig one; comp. OSax. ord, m., ‘point,’ AS. and MidE. ord. ‘point of a weapon’ (for a similar evolution of meaning comp. Ecke. The r of the word originated in s, z; Goth. *uzda- is by chance not recorded; it is assumed by OIc. oddr, ‘point,’ the dd of which points to Goth. zd. In Ort (1) the earlier meaning is still dimly seen. See also Ort (3).

Ort (3.), n. and m., ‘quarter, quart,’ from MidHG. ort, m. and n., ‘fourth part of a measure, weight, or coin’; corresponding to Du. oord, ‘a fourth part of a coin, measure, &c.’ Identical with Ort (2). “This meaning is approximately derived from the square coins divided by a cross into pieces with four Orte, i.e., ‘corners,’ and afterwards transferred to measure and weight. Thus in Germany and Austria, when, in the year 1849, the florin notes were divided into four parts to serve as change, a single part was called Eckele or Örtel, ‘a little corner,’ and this expression was then generally used for a quarter of a florin.” The earlier assumption that this word was based on MidLat. quarto, ‘fourth part,’ must be rejected.

Öse, f., ‘ear, hook,’ from late MidHG. and early ModHG. (MidG. and MidLG.) œse, f., ‘ear, hook, handle’; the usual assumption that the word is borrowed from Lat. ansa, ‘handle,’ is not to be preferred to the opinion that Öse and Öhr are identical, and that the s from which the r of Ohr and Öhr is derived is preserved in Öse; see Öhr.

Osten, m., from the equiv. MidHG. ôsten, m. and n., OHG. ôstan, m. and n., ‘east’; the form Ost is wanting in MidHG. and OHG.; it has probably been recently coined; comp. Nord and Norden, Süd and Suden, West and Westen. Yet even in AS. eást, E. east, occurs, whence Fr. est. —

osten, adv., from MidHG. ôsten, ôstene, ‘in, to, or from the east,’ OHG. ôstana, ‘from the

east,’ so too AS. eástene, ‘in the east,’ eástan, ‘from the east,’ OSax. ôstan, ôstana, ‘from the east’; OHG. and OSax. ôstar, ‘to the east.’ The stem austa- (in OIc. austr, gen. austrs, m.), on which these words are based, is undoubtedly connected with the OAryan term for ‘dawn’; primit. Aryan *ausôs, Sans. ušâs, Lat. aurôra (for *ausôs-a), Gr. ἠώς, Lith. auszrà, ‘dawn.’ Since, in other instances, the names for the periods of the day have been applied to the cardinal points, e.g., Mittag, Morgen, &c., the dawn might be used for the east, especially as Morgen in UpG. signifies ‘east’ (in UpG. the old terms for the cardinal points are almost obsolete). Comp. also Ostern.

Osterluzei, f., ‘birth-wort,’ first occurs in early ModHG.; corrupted from the Lat. term aristolochia, “in order to give at least a G. air and some apparent meaning to the word.”

Ostern, fem. plur, from the equiv. MidHG. ôster, f., more usual ôsteren, plur., OHG. ôstarûn, f. plur., ostara, f., ‘Easter’; corresponding to AS. eáster, n., eástro, f. plur. whence the equiv. E. Easter. Probably applied at an earlier period to an old heathen festival of the West Teutons. It is based upon the name of an OTeut. goddess of spring, Austrô, which must be identical with Ind. usrâ, ‘dawn’ (between s and r, t is inserted in Teut., see Schwester). The OAryan Aurôra had among the Teutons, to some extent at least, exchanged the character of a goddess of dawn for that of the light-bearing goddess of spring. This is indicated by the time of the Easter festival; the Christian season must have coincided with the heathen, since the name of the latter was appropriated. Bede testifies to the existence of the OTeut. goddess by the mention of the E. dial. form Eostra (for West Sax. Eástre). Ausôs, the OTeut. name of Aurôra, was the origin of the Teut. derivatives for ‘east,’ as well as AS. eárendel, ‘morning star, daybreak,’ whence the OHG. proper name Ôrentil in the later Orendel legends. See Osten.

Otter, f., from the equiv. MidHG. otter, OHG. ottar, m., ‘otter’; corresponding to Du. otter, AS. otor, E. otter, OIc. otr, ‘otter’; Goth. *utrs is by chance not recorded. Goth. tr remains unaffected by the HG. permutation; see bitter, lauter, treu, zittern. The term udrá- is applied in several Aryan languages to aquatic ani-