--- Kenneth Gorelick <pulmon at comcast.net> wrote: > To the esteemed Dr. Whom, philologist extraordinaire, greetings! > > Thank you for the OED ref. I understood that access to that resource > was costly so I did not search it out myself. This is the first word > for which I am aware of an Icelandic origin! > > Ken > On Feb 4, 2004, at 4:44 PM, Mark A Mandel wrote: [snip] > > OED OnLine (using "<dh>" for the Icelandic letter edh) says: > > > > app[arently] for earlier *bathask, after ON. ba<dh>ask, in later Icel. > > ba<dh>ast to bathe oneself, refl. of ba<dh>a to bathe. (With loss of > > "th": cf. "or" from other, sou'west, etc.) [snip again] Just to clarify, it's not of Icelandic origin. It's from (or "after") an Old Norse (ON.) word. The later Icelandic word is a cousin of our English word, not an ancestor. Lots of Old Norse words have descendants in both English and Icelandic. Just don't ask me to name one. Spearwielder Peaceman __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance: Get your refund fast by filing online. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html