Sunday, December 23, 2007

Stimme (voice)

Matt 3:3 reads in part:
Es ist eine Stimme eines Predigers in der Wüste
φωνἢ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ
A voice of one crying in the wilderness

Believe it or not, German Stimme has an English dialectal cognate, steven:

G Stimme < OHG stimna < Gmc *stemnō, stiβnō > OE stemn, stefn > E dial. steven.

According to the OED, steven (with a short vowel almost like /stevven/) means "voice," esp. a "loud voice", "outcry," "noise," or "tumult."

Possibly related is Greek στόμα, "mouth."

1 comment:

crystal said...

Merry Christmas :-)