Is it just me (and very likely Widmann 😉 ) who gets excited when I first encounter a word that is almost the same in another language as in my native Danish, and then start speculating about the etymology of the word?
This morning I encountered the Dutch “splinternieuw,” which in Danish is “splinterny.” The English term would be something like “brand new,” but the direct translation is closer to “splinter new.” I’ve hitherto never wondered about the origin of the word – it was just a random opaque marketing term – but I guess it might come from a piece of wood being freshly cut; so fresh indeed, it hasn’t been sanded down or cleaned yet, and is still full of fresh splinters.
That or it’s somehow related to renaissance painters and is from this guy.
