Re: etymology of the french word "esquiver"

On 5 May 2005 06:39:10 -0700, Nigel Greenwood
<ndsg_mmii@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:1115300350.438231.133620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
in sci.lang:

> Sean McIlroy wrote:

>> Tresor-de-la-Langue-Francaise says that the germanic
>> origin in question is the gothic *skiuhs ("signifiant à
>> la fois « craintif » et « insolent »").

>> to be sure that it isn't cognate with the english word "scare".

> I think it's cognate with Eng "shy" and "eschew" (bless
> you!). Think of a horse shying, which is practically
> "esquiver" in French.

<Eschew> is actually a borrowing of OFr <eschiver> 'to shun,
to avoid, to evade', which was apparently replaced by the
borrowing from Italian.

Brian
.

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