[Lexicog] words for different kinds of laughter

[Hayim Sheynin]

Fritz--
   
  <“Laughter is the best medicine” (free translation from “Proverbs” in the Bible)>, what verse of Proverbs is it?
   
  The formulation in your translation looks as a parallel to old Greek
  saying: Ho chronos farmakon estin (The time is the best medicine).
   
  Hayim Sheynin
  

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:
              True, Donald, but I am interested in “Who does what, when, under which circumstances?
  Agent (individual or group; gender), patient (absence or presence), differences in rank (social situation)?”
  I am also interested in cross-cultural “false friends.”
  Therefore I asked a group of Anglophones (Irish, English, American) to act out different kinds of laughing, and also who would laugh like that in what circumstances or contexts. That was funny in itself.
  “to giggle”, they all said, would happen in a group of young girls (German “kichern” is the exact equivalent)
  “to cackle” (a kind of mischievous laughter) could be associated with a witch. That is not the case with German “gackern” (or French “caqueter”) which is said of hens. “To guffaw” (a loud roaring laughter) seems to be said of a group of men; in German it would have to be paraphrased, maybe depending upon context by “wiehernd lachen” (“wiehern” is the sound “horses” make).
  “glucksen” in German (“glousser” in French), associated with “hens,” obviously is not the equivalent of “to chuckle.” The latter has been called “the most human kind of laughter.”
  “Ho ho” (Santa Claus kind of laugh), “Ha ha,” (“Ha ha, I got you” or said sarcastically when a joke did not seem funny) reproduce different kinds of laughter.
  
  “Laughter is the best medicine” (free translation from “Proverbs” in the Bible),
  
  Fritz Goerling
  
  Donald Pepper wrote:
  
            laughter is a form of expression when no words are available.


    

    

    
Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:

            

    I am interested in how different kinds of laughter are expressed in different languages and what principles (of word formation, onomatopoeia, etc.) are followed in building these words.! 

    Some examples from English and German:

    

    English                                German

    

    to chuckle                            glucksen (not an exact equivalent)

    to giggle                               kichern

    to cackle                              gackern

    to snicker/snigger              ?

    to titter                                  one would have to describe it by a paraphrase or show it

    

    What elements enter into play as differentiating factors? Who does what, when, under which circumstances?

    Agent (individual or group; gender), patient (absence or presence), differences in rank (social situation)?

    

    

    Fritz Goerling

    




   
    
    
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