[lacampbell]

Words derived from the same source as 'Loft' seem to universally mean 'sky' or 'air' in almost all germanic languages... except English where it means 'small room near the ceiling'.

[aasasd]

I guess Wiktionary might be mistaken, but it says the not-really-so-modern meaning of ‘loft’ is shared among Germanic languages: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/loft

[lacampbell]

Nope, seems I am in the wrong here. Looks like Danish for example has both "Luft" (air) and "Loft" (the room), which come from the same word.

[pvg]

At least it's still in the ballpark! Compare with 'gift' or 'worry'.

[lacampbell]

TIL German 'gift' and English 'gift' are actually the same word! I had assumed it was a coincidence.

[ozzmotik]

im pretty sure that Gift in German means poison, so i can't help but wonder what exactly you think an English gift is :^)

[aasasd]

Well, the word apparently has a bit unusual etymology:

> The word has been used as a euphemism for "poison" since Old High German, influenced by Late Latin dosis (“dose”), from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “something given; dose of medicine”). The original meaning "gift" has disappeared in contemporary Standard German.

So yeah, the word is the same, it just became divorced from the former meaning.

[ozzmotik]

oh wow i was actually completely unaware of the etymological history of it, but after reading what you said i did some research and confirmed it for myself. thank you for sharing that with me, and for allowing me to turn an unknown unknown into a more productive form :^)

[kevin_thibedeau]

Lofty carries some of the original meaning. The verbal loft also, which is where the contemporary meaning of the noun derives from.