LL-L: "Help needed" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 05.OCT.1999 (03)

Tue Oct 5 15:55:26 UTC 1999

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From: Henno Brandsma [Henno.Brandsma at phil.uu.nl]
Subject: LL-L: "Help needed" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 04.OCT.1999 (05)

> I find the following song much more problematic, especially because I am not

> sure about the meaning of _vornegheld_ ~ _vorneghelt_.  I assume that it
means
> either "mis-nailed" (i.e., a botched-up horseshoe job) or, perhaps more
likely
> in the given context, "ransomed, kept in a stall that is nailed shut (*>
MLS/G
> _vernagelt_)."  My translation is *very* tentative, and your suggestions and

> corrections would be very much appreciated.
>
> Song 38:
>
> Mir is myn perd vornegheld ghar,
> dat kumpt van rechter unschuld to,
> dat my de smyd des ghudes nicht en ghan,
> So deyt he alze en rechter boser man,
> went ich des anders nicht ghereken kan
> wen an dem dummen dere.
>
> Reke myr myn sporen, dar tho my blancke swerd,
> nü sadel my myn alderbeste perd:
> to dem iarmarkede wil ik ryden.
> Rostuschen, kopslaghen kan ik wol:
> ik gheue enen gulen vor enen gorren,
> dat is myn trud gheselle.
>
gorren might be related to West Frisian "goarre", as used
in the saying "it is gu^l om goarre" (it doesn't matter), the
old meanings of the words are both (gu^l and goarre) "old horse",
sometimes "not so good horse", also affectively, similar to Dutch "knol".
So the saying is literally: (one) old horse for another one, so one doesn't
really improve..

goarre [gwar@] < * gorre, with lengthening and breaking.
gul [gul] < *[gu:l]?

> Many thanks in advance.

Glad to be of some help,

Groetnis,

Henno

----------

From: "Klaas Chielens" <chielens at planetinternet.be>
Subject: Help Needed, song translation

> Song 54:
>
> Ligge stille, ligge stille,
> ik wil dik en boleken maken
> dus also
> up deme stro
> sunder syden laken.
>
> Is _boleken_ the diminutive form of *_bol_ 'ball'?

In Dutch (at least in my regional variant) we have the word 'boeleke' which
means baby and which fits in the song as well but gives it a whole other
meaning.

I looked up 'boele' in the Verdam Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek and there
it says that it means (lit) "I) Naam voor de naaste verwanten, volle en halve
broeders, zwagers (oostmnl.) 2) geliefde (ook ml. van eene vrouw); ook van
geestelijke betrekkingen 3) minnaar, minnares." which is 1) Name for close
relatives, full and half brothers, brothers in law 2) lover (also ml? of a
woman); also  spiritual engagements. 3) lover, out of the marritial bond' No
sign of the meaning baby there.

I hope this can help you a little...

Kind regards,

Klaas Chielens
Student Dutch/English
Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Klaas Chielens
Waversesteenweg 1245 1160 Oudergem
tel: 02/660.12.48 email: chielens at planetinternet.be
It is better to light a flame thrower than to curse the darkness.

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Help needed

Dear Henno and Klaas,

Thanks to both of you for the tremendous help (above), and welcome aboard,
Klaas.  This is really very helpful.

Henno wrote:

> > ik gheue enen gulen vor enen gorren,
> > dat is myn trud gheselle.
> >
> gorren might be related to West Frisian "goarre", as used
> in the saying "it is gu^l om goarre" (it doesn't matter), the
> old meanings of the words are both (gu^l and goarre) "old horse",
> sometimes "not so good horse", also affectively, similar to Dutch "knol".
> So the saying is literally: (one) old horse for another one, so one doesn't
> really improve..
>
> goarre [gwar@] < * gorre, with lengthening and breaking.

Aha!  Yes, that makes a lot of sense, though I haven't come across the word
before.  I'm glad I learned it.  (This is why conferring with speakers of
other Lowlands languages is *so* useful.)  I suppose Middle Low Saxon (Middle
Low German) _gorren_ is what in Modern Low Saxon is referred to as
_Krüffenbieter_ ~ _Krüppenbieter_ ("crip biter") or _Krüffensetter_ ~
_Krüppensetter_ ("crib sitter").  (The general German label might be _(alter)
Gaul_, and the English one would be '(old) nag'.)

> gul [gul] < *[gu:l]?

I'm still assuming derivation from *_guld_ (~ _gold_)  'gold'.  _Gulden_ (the
coin, guilder) would then be "golden (one)."  As far as I can tell,
d-assimilation to preceding /n/ or /l/ was beginning to take place in Middle
Low Saxon (perhaps much earlier in the spoken language than in the written
one).  In that case I'd expect *_gullen_ (which 'guilder' is in ModLS).
_Gulen_ could be "misspelled" for *_gullen_ or could be a dialectal variant
(with a long /u/).

Thus, my revision:

Reke myr myn sporen, dar tho my blancke swerd,
nü sadel my myn alderbeste perd:
to dem iarmarkede wil ik ryden.
Rostuschen, kopslaghen kan ik wol:
ik gheue enen gulen vor enen gorren,
dat is myn trud gheselle.

"Pass me my spurs, also my shiny sword!
Now saddle me my very best horse!
I want to ride to the fair(ground).
Horse-trading, head-hitting [?] is what I truly can do.
I [would] give a guilder for an old nag.
That is my trusty companion."

Klaas wrote

> In Dutch (at least in my regional variant) we have the word 'boeleke' which
means baby and which > fits in the song as well but gives it a whole other
meaning.
>
> I looked up 'boele' in the Verdam Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek and
there it says that it
> means (lit) "I) Naam voor de naaste verwanten, volle en halve broeders,
zwagers (oostmnl.) 2)
> geliefde (ook ml. van eene vrouw); ook van geestelijke betrekkingen 3)
minnaar, minnares." which
> is 1) Name for close relatives, full and half brothers, brothers in law 2)
lover (also ml? of a
> woman);
> also  spiritual engagements. 3) lover, out of the marritial bond' No sign of
the meaning baby there.

Now this *is* very interesting!  Right from the start I got onto this 'baby'
and 'lullaby' track, and what you started saying seemed to confirm this,
though "I'll make you a (= my) baby" doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you
think of a stranger adopting an abandoned or orphaned baby, for instance (like
in the lovely Yiddish lullaby _S'dremlen feygl oyf di tsvaygn_).  But then I
saw the Middle Dutch meaning, and ... aha!  This seems to give the song a
totally different spin, and a rather "naughty" one too.  Yes, indeed!  There
is the Modern Low Saxon word /boul/ _Bool_ (~ _Bohl_) [boUl] 'female sexual
partner (to whom one is not married)', along with the verb /boul-/ _bolen_ (~
_bohlen_) [boUln] 'to court', 'to have non-marital sexual relations', and the
adjective/adverb /boul+S/ _boolsch_ (~ _bohlsch_) 'courting ...',
'(illegitimately) sexual' (German _Buhle_, _buhlen_ and _buhlerisch_
respectively), though these are virtually obsolete, are not used in modern
life contexts, as far as I know.   Certainly, it fits sound-wise: German /uu/
and Dutch /uu/ (_oe_) = LS /ou/ _oo_ (cf. _gut_ = _goed_ = _good_ [goUt]).

So I assume that in its diminutive form _boleken_ it means something like
'sweetheart'.

Hence my revision from lullaby to love or courtship song:

Song 54:

Ligge stille, ligge stille,
ik wil dik en boleken maken
dus also
up deme stro
sunder syden laken.

"Lie still, lie still!
I shall make you my sweetheart
just like this,
on this straw [bed]
without a silken sheet."

The guy certainly didn't mince words ...  It doesn't seem much different from
certain medieval courtship songs.  (This directness fell by the wayside in
later periods.)

Again, thank you very much.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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