LL-L: "Landless languages" LOWLANDS-L, 07.NOV.1999 (03) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 07.NOV.1999 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Morado3197 at aol.com
Subject: LL-L: "Landless languages" LOWLANDS-L, 01.NOV.1999 (06)

In a message dated 11/1/99 7:45:34 PM Central Standard Time,
sassisch at yahoo.com writes:

<<  "Bruch" coming from "baruch". When I went
 back to the German book where I though I'd read this it wasn't there, so can
 anyone out there enlighten me?

 By the way, in this serious academic work the author had interpreted "air
 lift" (as in Berlin air lift) as "Luftfahrstuhl" (= "air elevator").
  >>
Doesn't 'Bruch' come from the verb 'brechen -brach-gebrochen'- to break from
the Old English: brecan ?

But 'air lift' as in the Berlin air  lift or airlift, in this sense cannot be
translated as 'Luftfahrstuhl'... Perhaps 'lift' in this case means something
like 'help' .

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Landless Languages

Dear Lila,

I know the above was written by you, even though you forgot to give us your
name.  Also, you credited me with the quote, but the actual writer of it was
John Feather (and I joined him in that edition).  (It is important to say who
you are and whom you are quoting.)

Technicalities aside, you wrote:

> Doesn't 'Bruch' come from the verb 'brechen -brach-gebrochen'- to break from
> the Old English: brecan ?

Yes, of course, but you missed John's point which was that in adapting Yiddish
sayings German tended to replace words of non-Germanic origin (in this case one
of Hebrew origin) with similar-sounding German ones.  Thus, in this case the
Hebrew word _barukh_ (_baruch_) 'blessed' came interpreted as German _Bruch_
'break', 'fracture', and the saying then took on a life of its own.  These
espressions usually entered German via a now defunct semi-secret German-based
"jargon" called "Rotwelsch," a language variety used by people outside the
social mainstream.

> But 'air lift' as in the Berlin air  lift or airlift, in this sense cannot be
> translated as 'Luftfahrstuhl'... Perhaps 'lift' in this case means something
> like 'help' .

That was exactly John's point.  He told us the amusing tale of someone else who
*misinterpreted* the English word as German _Luftfahrstuhl_; i.e., 'air' >
_Luft_, 'lift' > _Fahrstuhl_ (as in 'elevator').  Of course, as John himself
probably knew, the correct German equivalent of English 'airlift' is
_Luftbrücke_ (literally "air bridge").  In Low Saxon (Low German) it is
_Luftbrügg(e)_, _Luchtbrügge_, etc.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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