ext_6416 ([identity profile] thistleingrey.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] prettygoodword 2013-01-02 09:27 pm (UTC)

I'd vote Dutch/Low German as most likely source for English usage, given the century for the latter (late fourteenth into fifteenth). Cleasby-Vigfusson gives the Old Icelandic usage as from Karlamagnússaga, and thus it is suspect from a purist's standpoint, since a multilingual person (at least a person who could read multiple langs, even if not able to speak all of them) created that text. "Earlier" babble v.1, btw, isn't much earlier--the Nero Ancrene Wisse is mid-C13.

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