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<font size=3>Some intriguing hints -- at least to me, who does not know
Dutch! -- from an 1851 Dutch-English dictionary, near the Duyckincks'
time. Of course an expert in the history of Dutch (and its
variants) will (might?) have a complete and correct analysis.<br><br>
The verse is:<br><br>
Yanker didel, doodel down<br>
Didel, dudel lanter,<br>
Yanke viver, voover vown,<br>
Botermilk und Tanther.<br>
-----<br><br>
From: Bomhoff, Dirk. <i>New dictionary of the English and
Dutch language; to which is added a catalogue of the most usual proper
names, and a list of the irregular verbs; carefully revised and
considerably augmented</i>. Ed. 4. Nimmegen,
Thieme, 1851. 2 vols. <br><br>
Words not listed below I did not find, including simple variants. I
neglected to look up what the abbreviations mean. Italics indicate
the English translation. <br><br>
Janken, o. w. met Hebben, <i>to Yelp, Howl</i>; fig. <i>to Cry</i>; Om
iets ---, <i>to Hanker after a thing</i>.<br>
Janker, M. fig. <i>crier</i>.<br>
[Crying, calling out a rhythmic* harvesting
song? Any double meaning from the idiom?]<br><br>
Lanterfant, <i>Toad-eater, idler</i>; Lanterfanterij, vr.
<i>Idling</i>.<br>
[Is an idler being told to pick up the slack,
work with the rhythm?]<br>
Lanterluijen, o. w. met Hebben, <i>to play at lanterloo</i>.<br>
[Another variation off lanter-; why is it,
possibly, associated with a sense of <i>idling</i>? Perhaps
card-playing was seen as wasting time? -- that certainly was an (English,
American) Puritan opinion.]<br><br>
Janke -- not found.<br><br>
Boter, vr. <i>Butter</i>; sprw. --- bij de visch, <i>Money in hand.</i>
<br>
[A pun on the literal meaning and the
idiom? Being both fed and paid (in addition to a tenth of the grain
reaped)?]<br><br>
Tanther -- not found. [ [Eng. <i>tithe, tenth</i> (n., v.) =
Tiende[r].]<br><br>
* [Perhaps the didel, dudel, viver, voover are nonsense syllables to
express the rhythm of the harvesting.]<br><br>
Joel</font></body>
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