[Sca-cooks] Wecker -- To Roast Salmon

[Terry Decker]

>
> <<
>>thu wol vorgemelte Wu:ertz darein/
> As a native speaker of German, I can tell you ... >>
> Ah, a native speaker of 16th century German ...
>
> << ... that this can mean a lot of different things >>
>
> Well, no. If you are familiar with 16th century German texts,
> "vorgemelt" is used like English "aforementioned" or
> "abovementioned". Ranvaig was right.

Ranvaig may be correct.  But given the non-standard spelling prior to the 
18th Century, it is also possible that "vorgemelte" may mean something 
entirely different.

>
> << vorgemelt could mean a lot, as in "schmelzen" ->
> melt >>
>
> But "vorgemelt" is 16th c. German, "melt" is English.

Melt derives from Old English which is the Anglo-Saxon spoken in Northern 
Germany during the 5th Century.  The Anglo-Saxon derives from Gothic, which 
is one of the precursors to Old High German.  The OE form is "melten."  The 
Gothic form is "maltjan" or "gamalteins."  I unfortunately do not have the 
references to pursue the etymology of the word into German.

>
> << "mehlen" -> to turn in flour; >>
>
> so, "vorgemelt Wu:ertz" would mean something like 'the spices
> that have been previously turned in flour'... strange idea.
> Did you ever check, whether or not the verb "mehlen" exists
> in 16th century German? I can't find it in the huge Grimm
> dictionary of historical German (http://www.DWB.uni-trier.de).
>

Try "mahlen."  Das Mehl ist gemahlt.  So too are spices.  A misspelled 
"vorgemahlt" makes some sense in the sentence.

> << If you take all of this together, the whole
> expression probably means "put the well pre-ground
> spices into it" >>
>
> Same question like before: Are there instances of 16th
> century German, where "vorgemelt" means "pre-ground"?
> Could you provide one or two? I can
> show you many instances where "vorgemelt" means
> "aforementioned". Try googling "vorgemelt", you'll find
> many examples yourself.
>
> Emilio

Having encountered interesting spellings and the occasional archaic usage in 
my forays into translating Mittlehochdeutsch, I'd really like the German 
equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary so I can seriously check old 
spellings.

Bear