AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

The thesis aims to make up for part of the lack of a West Frisian etymological dictionary. It contains 37 lemmas with thorough historical linguistic treatments. A lemma consists of a West Frisian word from the standard language, a collection of its regional and dialectal variants, its cognates in the other branches of Frisian, Germanic and Indo-European, a discussion of the relevant historical developments in phonology, morphology and semantics (focusing especially on the developments from Proto-Germanic to West Frisian), as well as of the ultimate etymology, and finally some relevant references. The words were selected from the semantic category of farming, including both agriculture and livestock breeding, which has been a prominent feature of Frisian life for centuries. The appertaining vocabulary has a long Frisian history as well, and is therefore well-suited both to illustrate and to refine our understanding of the linguistic history of Frisian. Advisors/Committee Members: Lubotsky, Alexander (advisor).