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Kau

( 168 )

Keb

hence ‘strange, unintelligible foreign tongue.’ It seems to have been a Swiss word orig. and allied to Suab. and Swiss kauder, chûder, ‘tow’; or should it be churwelsch?

Kaue, f., ‘coop, cage, pen,’ from MidHG. kouwe (köwe), f., ‘miner's hut or shed over a shaft’ (OHG. *kouwa, Goth. *kaujô, are wanting); from Lat. cavea (intermediate form cauja?), ‘cavity.’ See also Käfig.

kauen, vb., ‘to chew,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kûwen, kiuwen, OHG. chiuwan; ModHG. au and MidHG. û in this word compared with äu in wiederkäuen is properly MidG. merely. It corresponds to AS. ceóuwan, E. to chew, and the equiv. Du. kaauwen. The verb, which is based on a Teut. root këw, ku, pre-Teut. gew, is wanting in Goth.; comp. OSlov. žĭvą, žują, žĭvati, ‘to chew.’ The Aryan root is gjū̆, gī̆w, ‘to chew’; see Rieme. Gr. γεύομαι for γεύσομας is totally unconnected with HG. kauen, being allied to kosten.

kauern, vb., ‘to crouch’; its relation to MidHG. hûren (Du. hurken), ‘to squat,’ is obscure; in E. and in Scand. an initial k also appears, MidE. couren, E. to cower; Dan. kûre, Swed. kûra, in the ModHG. sense; OIc. kúra, ‘to be inactive’ Comp. kauzen.

kaufen, vb., ‘to buy,’ from MidHG. koufen, OHG. choufôn. The meaning in OHG. and MidHG. is somewhat more general, ‘to trade, negotiate,’ specially also ‘to buy, sell, or to barter.’ Comp. Goth. kaupôn, ‘to trade,’ AS. čŷpan (Goth. *kaupjan), ‘to buy, sell.’ The word has numerous interesting meanings; its primary sense is ‘to barter,’ and was used by the parties on either side, and hence on the development of the system of paying in specie it signified both ‘to buy’ and ‘to sell’; comp. also AS. ceáp, ‘trade, business, cattle’ (cattle was, in fact, the chief medium of payment in exchange; comp. Geld and Vieh). It is most closely allied to Lat. caupo, ‘retail dealer, innkeeper,’ and in connection with this fact it is certainly remarkable that a nomen agentis corresponding to Lat. caupo is far less widely diffused than the Teut. vb. kaupôn (only in OHG. does choufo mean ‘shopkeeper’). The Teut. vb. in the form of kupiti, ‘to buy’ (allied to kupŭ, ‘trade,’ kupĭcĭ, merchant,’ Lith. kùpezus, ‘merchant’), passed into prim. Slav. and Finn. (kauppata, ‘to trade’).

The cognates are wanting in Rom. (comp. Kaiser). — The ModHG. Kauf is OHG. chouf, m., ‘trade, business’; AS. čeáp, ‘trade’; in E. the cognates cheap and chapman have been retained.

Kaul-barsch, ‘round posterior,’ Kaul-kopf, ‘bull-head,’ Kaul-quappe, ‘ruff’; in these compounds Kaul signifies ‘a ball of small circumference’; MidHG. kûle, a variant of kugele (comp. steil from steigel); older ModHG. Kaule; comp. Keule.

kaum, adv., ‘scarcely,’ from MidHG. kûme, as adj. (?), ‘thin, weak, infirm,’ as adv. (OHG. chûmo), ‘with difficulty, hardly, scarcely, not’; to this is allied OHG. chûmig, ‘powerless, toilsome.’ ‘Feeble’ is the prim. meaning of the adj. and adv., as is shown by Lower Hess. küme, MidLG. küme, Swiss chum, and MidE. kîme, ‘feeble.’ The corresponding AS. cŷme signifies ‘tender, fine, beautiful’ (comp. klein), Teut. kûmi-, ‘feeble,’ is not found in the other languages.

Kauz, m., ‘screech-owl,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kûtze, kûtz, m. (rarely occurs); in OHG. as well as in the other OTeut. dials. the word is wanting, therefore it is difficult to determine its Goth. form. We might assume Goth. *kutts or *kûdna; the first partly suggests Gr. βῦζα, ‘owl’ (for gûdja? β as in βαίνα, ‘to go,’ βύσσος, ‘fine flax, equiv. to ModHG. Kaute). Moreover, ModHG. pet names for birds are formed ending in tz, Spatz, Stieglitz, Kiebitz; hence Kau-ze may have to be divided, and thus Gr. βύας, ‘owl,’ would be most closely connected with Teut. kau, kû.

kauzen, vb., ‘to cower’; ModHG. only; like kauern, it is connected with the root kû; zen is a suffix from OHG. zen, azen (ȥȥen, aȥȥen), Goth. atjan; *kûwatjan would be the Goth. form. Comp. kauern.

Kebſe, f., ‘concubine,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kębse, kębese, OHG. chębisa, chębis; in Goth. perhaps *kabisi. Comp. AS. čęfes, čyfes. Unfortunately the word is etymologically quite obscure. The meaning is an important one in the history of manners and customs; the AS. word signifies ‘concubine’ and ‘servant,’ and the corresponding masc. kefser in OIc. slave; it is evident that female captives were made slaves and concubines (comp. AS. wealh, ‘Kelt. slave,’ wylen, ‘female slave, servant,’ under Welſch). The idea of ‘concubine,’ in spite of Tacitus’ highly-coloured picture of the OTeut. family life, is not foreign to