Hi, Scriptor-ga -- Just off the top of your head, does it seem that
the German verb Machen is cognate both to "to make" and "to mock"?

Obviously the plain sense of the verb is virtually the same as "to
make" in English.  However "mock" can mean in English both to
ridicule, esp. by unflattering imitation, or to imitate in a not
entirely pejorative sense, e.g. to mock up a prototype or (as an
adjective) a "mock orange" and similar constructions (meaning a
"false" likeness).

In English we often say "to make fun" of someone as virtually
synonymous with mocking them.  Does German have a similar usage?

regards, mathtalk

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 30 Sep 2003 12:41 PDT

Hello, mathtalk!

Thank you for this interesting question. I am working on it, please be patient ;-)

Greetings,
Scriptor

Dear mathtalk!

Well, in my opinion the English "to mock" derives from the French
"moquer" (se moquer de quelqu'un - to make fun of someone, to ridicule
someone). And the French word is, I think, a direct descendant of the
Latin "muccare", which means "wiping the nose" in the sense of making
a depreciative (snoring) sound or gesture in order to deride someone
or something.
Due to the influence the French language had on German upper-class
culture during the 17th and 18th century, "moquer" also found its way
into the German language: "Sich über jemanden mokieren" means,
basically, "to mock someone".

However, the English "to make" has definitely Germanic roots: It has
the same origin (and meaning) as the modern High German verb "machen".
This is most obvious by looking at the form "machen" once had in Old
Middle High German and still has in Low German dialect: "maken". "Ik
make" and "I make" are identical in their meanings.

So in English "to mock" and "to make" are definitely two words with
different roots. And the English "to make fun of someone" is not
connected with "to mock". But there is some kind of German pendant to
"to make fun of someone", though with a slightly different meaning:
"Spaß machen" (to make fun) means joking, kidding; "sich über jemanden
lustig machen" would be the real counterpart of the English expression
"to make fun of s.o.", and there might be a very, very loose
conncetion between those two. But to prove that would be, in my humble
opinion, impossible.

I hope that this was interesting!
Very best regards,
Scriptor

Thanks for the delightful research.  Really top notch discussion and
insight.  Sounds like we should be making up with the Germans while we
continue on with mocking the French.