[Lexicog] words for different kinds of laughter

[Hayim Sheynin]

Lieber Fritz,

I asked my question intentionally, because in translation from Hebrew Proverbs 17:22 (Lēv śamēaḥ yētîv gēhāh) the word gēhāh which usually translated as 'good health' or medicine in your translation, is really problematic. First of all it is a hapax legomenon (i.e. it occurs only once in the Bible), secondly the verb from which this noun is derived means 'to remove abscess, boil' and only in this sense may mean 'good health, healing'. The same verse in ancient Syriac translation
instead  gēhāh used gawah and manuscript readings give gufa, both mean 'body'. So it seems the correct translation should be 'Joyful heart improves condition of body'which is a parallel to Latin proverb: Mens sana in corpore sano. 

Hayim

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:                                          
  Shalom Hayim,
   
  Proverbs 17:22 says in the King James version: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
  Your Greek saying giving that role to “time” has a German equivalent in “Die Zeit heilt alle Wunden”
  (= time heals all wounds).
   
  Greetings, Fritz
   
   
          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
  
  
      /!  FONT>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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