Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004012, Thu, 29 Apr 1999 11:36:30 -0700

Subject
Re: squawk, gawk, gowk and spoke (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Mvoscol@aol.com


Cf. Concise Oxford English Dictionary:

gowk n. dial.
1a cuckoo.
2an awkward or halfwitted person; a fool.

Etymology ME f. ON gaukr f. Gmc (not from Anglo-Saxon or Old English geac!)

And the German Kuckuck is not related to gucken 'look etc.'

Does this get us anywhere useful? No.

Manfred V: Etymologist