Talk:dorf

Etymology

I can't find much information about the etymology of this word (ety 2, "idiot"/"freak"). Wright's English Dialect Dictionary says dwarf was sometimes used of any "deformed person" , not just short ones, which provides circumstantial support to the entry's suggestion that the "freak" sense derives from "dwarf", as does the supposed plural dorves. (The MED has the word as a "term of disparagement" but perhaps only for short people?) Perhaps the "idiot" sense was influenced by "doof"?
Anatoly Liberman's Analytic Dictionary of the English Etymology, in discussing dwarf, mentions that some people mention a LG word dorf as a relative, but says this is extremely doubtful.
- -sche (discuss) 22:54, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

RFV discussion: February–March 2019

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dorf

RFV of etymology 2, the "idiot" and "freak" senses supposedly related to "dwarf" (and not to "doof"??). I can only find one citation; everything else is etymology 1, "village" (which I just added). - -sche (discuss) 16:57, 19 February 2019 (UTC)

I have added a second cite for idiot, and two for freak, but that is all I can find. Perhaps we should combine the two into a single definition, (an idiot or freak), and then we would have sufficient cites. Kiwima (talk) 22:03, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

That could work. In fact, the second citation currently under the "idiot" sense could just as well be "you freaks promised me first turn", so perhaps the sense is just "freak, term of disparagement"? - -sche (discuss) 22:57, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

As an aside, the irregular plural dorves should go unless we find at least one cite using it. We don't generally require expectable inflected forms to be cited, but in this case a regular, expectable plural dorfs does exist, so I assert that the second, irregular plural needs some evidence. All I'm finding are creative misspellings of hors d'oeuvres. - -sche (discuss) 02:02, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

RFV-resolved Kiwima (talk) 20:34, 1 March 2019 (UTC)