tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post111902521225301051..comments2023-05-29T08:58:13.381-04:00Comments on Recycled Knowledge: The strange case of the word "cell"John Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-1119034577211622652005-06-17T14:56:00.000-04:002005-06-17T14:56:00.000-04:00Quite right; see my earlier article on doublets.I ...Quite right; see my earlier article on <A HREF="http://recycledknowledge.blogspot.com/2005/06/gentil-quadruplets.html" REL="nofollow">doublets</A>.<BR/><BR/>I was quite surprised to find on a trip to Ireland that <I>ditch</I> is still used there in the sense of 'dyke'; people sit on, rather than in, the ditch.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-1119029635275456512005-06-17T13:33:00.000-04:002005-06-17T13:33:00.000-04:00Given the fact that 'cell' was a specialized eccle...Given the fact that 'cell' was a specialized ecclesiastic word in Anglo-Saxon times, and that French was making inroads in the church even before the Conquest, I think that it's highly likely that you're right and 'cell' reentered English from French. It was probably an inkhorn term in A-S times (though Alcuin's "O mea cella" is my favourite medieval Latin poem). I have to get my OED out of storage so that I can check these things.<BR/><BR/>That said, you've oversimplified the case of /k/ palatization in Anglo-Saxon times. In the Danelaw (mainly the East Midlands and the North), /k/ palatization was either prevented or reversed in many cases, possibly due to influence from Scandinavian settlers (or perhaps because the process was never as strong as in the South and West)-- that's how we ended up with doublets in English like 'church'/'kirk', 'ditch'/'dike', and 'shirt'/'skirt'. In that case, we would have expected the word to end up in modern English as 'kell', though, rather than 'cell'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com