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OP English is, as we know, a result of mixed linguistic impulses over long periods of time. Old Norse is an easily identifiable one, and also shares older Germanic roots with English. Thus, when I saw the word "maw," as a Norwegian I immediately knew its approximate meaning.
The Old English word "maga" is still current in all the main Scandinavian languages. It is spelled with an 'e' at the end: "mage" (Swedish and Norwegian), "mave" (Danish). It means "stomach, gut" either generally (general non-technical usage) or specifically as the muscular bag near the beginning of the alimentary canal (medical usage). However, to my knowledge it does not connote "mouth" or "throat" in any modern Scandinavian language.
In colloquial Eastern Norwegian the standard Norwegian "mage" is very often pronounced "maga," in both cases with a hard 'g'. Danish pronounciation to my ears is very close to current English spelling, but with two syllables: "mah-wuh." With a hard 'v' something like it is also found in several variants of Norwegian.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Maw (weekly topic: short words) Jon Aalborg 01/10/11 09:04 AM Re: Maw zmjezhd 01/10/11 01:56 PM Re: Maw BranShea 01/10/11 04:09 PM Re: Maw Clarinda 01/12/11 03:30 PM Re: Maw LukeJavan8 01/12/11 04:56 PM Re: Maw bexter 01/12/11 05:39 PM Re: Maw LukeJavan8 01/12/11 05:43 PM Re: Maw BranShea 01/12/11 07:38 PM Re: Maw LukeJavan8 01/12/11 09:56 PM Re: Maw BranShea 01/13/11 09:20 AM Re:Kip and Maw Candy 01/13/11 02:14 PM Re:Kip and Maw BranShea 01/13/11 02:16 PM Re:Kip and Maw LukeJavan8 01/13/11 04:12 PM Re:Kip and Maw Avy 01/14/11 01:52 AM Re:Kip and Maw LukeJavan8 01/14/11 02:00 AM Re:Kip and Maw Avy 01/14/11 03:17 AM Re:Kip and Maw bexter 01/14/11 09:13 AM Re:Kip and Maw Avy 01/14/11 02:43 PM Re:Kip and Maw verbicrucialist 01/14/11 09:43 PM Re:Kip and Maw LukeJavan8 01/14/11 11:07 PM Re:Kip and Maw Candy 01/15/11 04:27 AM Re:Kip and Maw BranShea 01/15/11 05:15 AM Re:Kip and Maw bexter 01/15/11 10:49 AM Re:Kip and Maw LukeJavan8 01/15/11 04:01 PM Re:Kip and Maw BranShea 01/15/11 08:45 PM Re:Kip and Maw Jackie 01/16/11 12:58 AM Re:Kip and Maw BranShea 01/16/11 07:50 PM Re:Kip and Maw BranShea 01/19/11 05:12 AM Re:Kip and Maw LukeJavan8 01/19/11 04:17 PM Re:Kip and Maw LukeJavan8 01/16/11 02:46 AM Re: Maw Jackie 01/11/11 02:29 AM Re: Maw LukeJavan8 01/11/11 02:54 AM Re: Maw BranShea 01/11/11 07:31 AM Re:Kip and Maw Jackie 01/20/11 03:02 AM
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