Hi-di-hi,

The thought crossed me one of the days that 'polder' is a low-lying area and since 'poll' has a double l, it would presumably have been 'pold' once.

Any possible etymology there?

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

According to Wiktionary poll is a Germanic (Old English) borrowing from pōl (modern pool), so the double l was probably caused by shortening of the long vowel, no d in there. The question remains what did the Dutch polder come from. I could imagine it somehow coming from Proto-Germanic *pōlaz, and thus having the same origin. Also Chamber’s Twentieth Century Dictionary apparently claims it's probably cognate with pool, and Wikipedia seems to confirm that (although unsourced), and most other dictionaries on the web just say that its origin is unknown.

TLDR: seems that you might be on the right track, that there is a chance they are cognates, but there was no /d/ in Irish word, and in Dutch (and later English) the /d/ is an innovation.

MacBain’s dictionary :

Interesting. The dynamic of length and tenseness would seem to go both ways, from vowel to consonants (pól --> poll), like from consonant to vowel (Éireannach --> Éireánnach).


Also goes to show how amateur hunches can be off, lol

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___