LL-L: "Folklore" LOWLANDS-L, 21.DEC.2000 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 21.DEC.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Anja Meyfarth [AMeyfarth at t-online.de]
Subject: LL-L: "Folklore" LOWLANDS-L, 20.DEC.2000 (01) [E]

Elsie Zinsser wrote:

> Interestingly too is that in the Low Saxon lullaby the Greek words
> 'eiapopeia, polei' (and probably meaning something like "move hither, move
> thither, all") also occur in Afrikaans. I have always thought it strange that
> Greek baby rocking  sounds should find it's way into Afrikaans; but it's
> obvious now from where it comes.
>
> Why is the Greek in this so out of place? Shall we imagine for a
> moment...it's Rome 220 AD and the foreign Germanic soldiers employed by the
> Caesar are allowed to bring wives and babies down south and all they can find
> is a Greek-speaking nanny...

Well, sounds interesting :)

> No? More likely Greece>>Slavic languages>>Low Saxon>>Afrikaans?

I believe the explanation has to do with the season we now live in: Christmas.
I know this phrase from Christmas songs like "Zu Bethlehem geboren" (Born
in Bethlehem) or "Vom Himmel hoch, ihr Englein kommt" (From Heaven High, come,
Ye Angels) and from a German childrens song "Eiapopeia, was raschelt im Stroh"
(Eiapopeia, what`s rustling in the straw). So a connection to Christian songs
from the early ages seems quite possible to me.

Fröhliche Wiehnachten! Merry Christmas! God Jul!

Anja

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From: Criostoir O Ciardha [paada_please at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Folklore" LOWLANDS-L, 19.DEC.2000 (03) [E]

A chairde,

I read Pat's comments on the East Midlands with great
interest, and although I grew up in the same cultural
area (specifically Long Eaton near Nottingham) we had
never heard of the tradition of the "Sandman" until
the American song came about. There was no tradition
of any great Morpheus-type figure to lull us to sleep.
The grit in our eyes was usually referred to pre-sleep
rather than afterward (is that curious?) and is known
as "sleep" - e.g., "Yev go' sliejp inn yer raiz" [je^B
go^? sl:i:j:p' in: jn j@ raiz] - "You've got sleep in
your eyes [and you need to get to bed]."

Could this be down to the Norse traditions (that old
theorteical chestnut again *laughs*) of my area
compared to a more northern German cultural base for
elsewhere?

Thanks for a wonderful discussion, as always.

Go raibh maith agat.

Críostóir.

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From: Criostoir O Ciardha [paada_please at yahoo.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Folklore" LOWLANDS-L, 19.DEC.2000 (04) [E/S]

A chairde,

In appendix to my earlier statement, Sandy's
discussion of Wee Willie Winkie (as we referred to
him) reminds me that in Lond Eaton (Nottingham) we had
him, too, although he was not a Sandman-figure. He
appeared to be only half-remembered, and had no status
as a bringer of sleep. Usually he survived on in the
phrase "wee Willie Winkie" as an endearment. Indeed,
most of the times I recall the term it's in a
non-sleep context. Perhaps some cultural
cross-polination took place between Scotland and
Derbyshire - the Jacobite Rising of 1745? - and
"Willie" survived as a general term?

Go raibh maith agaibh,

Críostóir.

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