The historical Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch online extended its entries to Q on September 9th (via Handakte WebLAWg and netbib weblog).

It isn’t often necessary, but it can be very useful indeed. Here’s the entry on Krida (nowadays only Austrian), to give a taste:

Krida, f. =>Übersicht

aus mlat. u. altital. crida, ital. grida “öffentl. Ausruf” entlehnt; die Bedeutungsverengung auf das Begriffsfeld “Konkurs” geht wohl auf den Ausdruck crida pignorum zurück
vgl. Aufgebot (I), Ausgebot (I 1), Ausruf (II), Ausrufung (II), Gant (I)

I Konkurs(verfahren), Konkurseröffnung

* wellicher glaubiger … sein schuld in dem ersten proceß oder crida nit fürbringt
1552 Walther,Trakt.(Ri.) 53
* wann auf ein vorgehunde crida ein guet zu bezallung der schulden durch die glaubiger … verkhauft wierdet, so sein die glaubiger … die schermbung … zu thuen schuldig
1599 NÖLREntw. II 4 § 12
* biß zu erledigung der crida alle executiones einstellen
1644 Weingarten,Fasc. I 123
* [die] crida … wird … vorgenommen, wann entweder bey leb-zeiten die schuldner nicht vermoegend, seine glaubige zu befriedigen, und hierumen die cridam anmeldet oder wann nach absterben das vermoegen nicht zulaenglich, die schuldner hieraus zu befriedigen
1752 Greneck 260
* 1752 Greneck 303f. [vgl. Reg. 5]
* waere von fremden eigenthum etwas unter denen guetern des cridatarii in natura noch anzutreffen, koente solches nicht in die crida verfallen, sondern mueßte noch vor der classification [d. Gläubiger] abgezohen und denen eigenthumern vorbehalten werden
1752 Greneck 305
* so lang keine crida verhenget worden, ist jedem glaubiger erlaubt, sieh um seine bezahlung zu bewerben, wann solches nur ohne heimlicher verstaendnuß mit dem gegentheil beschiehet
1752 Greneck 363
* 1752 Greneck 375

II (öffentlich ausgehängte) Konkurserklärung

* von anschlahung der crida …
1552 Walther,Trakt.(Ri.) 43
* 1552 Walther,Trakt.(Ri.) 54
* edikt oder crida
1688 Beckmann,Idea 471

III Versteigerung

* crida, offentlicher ausruff oder verganthung
1733 Der in allen Vorfällen vorsichtige Banquier., . (Frankfurt und Leipzig 1733) I 483
* die crida; gant, gerichtlicher ausruf an meißt biethende
1815 Höfer,ÖWB. I 138
* krida, versteigerung des vermoegens
1815 Höfer,ÖWB. II 174

Thanks to languagehat for a wonderful link (he got it from aldiboronti at Wordorigins – afraid that always makes me think of Aldi) – a multilingual list of chess vocabulary (chess pieces, Schachfiguren) with an introduction discussing the various terms.

2018 update – that link is now dead- see comment by George L. – here is a new link, thanks to him:

New link for multilingual chess piece vocabulary.

bq. The rooks differ in many ways in different languages. The rook is a tower in many European languages (eg. Spanish and Portuguese torre, Finnish torni, French tour, Dutch toren), sometimes a large farm (Frisian stins), a ship (Russian lad’ja, transcribed also as ladya) or a wagon (Chinese ju, Estonian vanker).

bq. Until the new queen’s move was introduced in the 15th century the rook was the most powerful piece. Except for the castling the powers of the rook have been unchanged throughout the known history of chess.

But why is a rook a rook? The OED says it goes back to a Persian word whose meaning is doubtful.

Bishop is German Läufer (runner), but I didn’t know it was Turkish fil (elephant). Apparently that came from Persian pil, elephant or chess piece, which became fil in Arabic.

Further to the last-but-one entry, here is a page on Ulster Scots, with a test, audio clips, poetry and other goodies.

Seiten zur “neuen lex mercatoria” an der Uni Köln.

The Juristisches Internetprojekt Saarbrücken’s link of the week this week was LawEye.

They link to Central, the Center for Transnational Law at the University of Cologne. The subject is what they call the new lex mercatoria or law merchant. One of a number of linked sites is LawEye, in English, intended as a page to start research into international commercial law.

There are a number of useful links there. Via ‘Legal Miscellanea’ I found

bq. advokatur.ch Juristische Linkseite Koch & Felix, Reinach, CH. Site features include Swiss Law Search, a useful research tool (German).

That looks excellent. Swiss law is one of those black holes when it comes to translating it into English. Here is the Swiss Law Search page.

I found this via the Usenet group sci.lang (which I don’t usually read). I’ve classified this entry as ‘English language’, but some of those linguistics buffs would not agree:

bq. Walcome til the Scottish Pairlament wabsite

bq. The Scottish Pairlament is here for tae represent aw Scotland’s folk.

bq. We want tae mak siccar that as mony folk as can is able tae find oot aboot whit the Scottish Pairlament dis and whit wey it warks. We hae producit information anent the Pairlament in a reenge o different leids tae help ye tae find oot mair.

bq. This section o wir wabsite introduces ye til the information that is tae haun on wir wabsite in Scots.

bq. Gettin involvit in the Scottish Pairlament

bq. We hae producit a publication cried “Makkin Yer Voice Heard in the Scottish Pairlament” that tells ye aboot the different weys that you can let the Pairlament and the Memmers o the Scottish Pairlament (MSPs) ken whit ye think.

They have Gaelic too, with pictures, and Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali and others – and Catalan.

From the section Makkin yer voice heard in the Scottish Pairlament (‘Whit for..?’, ‘Hoo…?’), there’s link to a glossary of parliamentary terminology (‘A wheen words explainit’). I like the sederunt here, although my Scots legal glossary – Butterworths – says sederunt means something else: ‘they sat; an attendance list, usually incorporated in the minutes of a meeting’:

bq. Surgery The regular sederunts hauden by MSPs in their constituency or region in a local place sic as a community ha, a library or a supermercat. Ye can gang til thir meetins tae discuss issues that concerns ye wi yer MSPs.

Tom Peters on ChangeThis recommends a list of to don’ts instead of a to-do list and 59 other things).

(Via Boing Boing)