LL-L "Help needed" 2001.11.18 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 18.NOV.2001 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Ole Stig Andersen <osa at olestig.dk>
Subject: Merry Christmas in 300 languages

Dear list

Help needed :-)

I have compiled a list of Christmas (and New Year) greetings in about
300
languages. And organised them semantically and genetically. See
http://www.olestig.dk/julemanden/hilsen.html
The page is in Danish, but given the nature of the material it should be
accessible to the interested reader all the same.

There are certainly VERY many mistakes and misunderstandings in the
list, so
I intend to make it more and more correct, eventually, down to the most
minute details of spelling, including diacritics, which are notorious
for
disappearing or transforming in cyberspace.

I ask the list to kindly help me make the Lowlands entries (more)
correct.
You will find them at
http://www.olestig.dk/julemanden/hilsen.html#julgerm
http://www.olestig.dk/julemanden/hilsen.html#vienat
http://www.olestig.dk/julemanden/hilsen.html#kristusdage
http://www.olestig.dk/julemanden/hilsen.html#kristusnat

I have harvested them from various lists that are published and modified
(often wrongly)in many places on the Internet. Invariably such lists are
sorted alphabetically after the language or country 's name.

As far as I know, the largest such collection of alphabetically ordered
Christmas greetings on the Net is http://www.flw.com/christmas, which is
my
sole source for about half the examples. (You may wish to switch the
sound
off in your browser before you visit this page!)

Besides the literary delights of the list genre in itself, it is also
well
suited to teaching the public (or students) about some basics of
language,
how languages are related, similar and dissimilar. One can - in an
unusually meaningful context, I think ­ study some sound correspondences
(like l > w > u, that has recently been discussed on the list) and some
cultural correspondences (e.g. the many (former colonial) languages in
which christmas is called a version of the english word).

(The most marvelous example of such lists is Mark Rosenfelder's
fantastic:
Numbers 1-10 in 4.500 languages (four thousand five hundred) at
http://zompist.com/numbers.shtml)

I also intend to give a direct translation of all the greetings,
eventually.
I have begun this in Danish, and when I have the time I will make a
version
in English, too, also including direct translations.

I would also love corrections and translations of non-lowlands
languages, of course.

Thank you for your help

Ole Stig Andersen, Journalist
(+45) 3537 4600
osa at olestig.dk
www.olestig.dk

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Help needed

Ole Stig,

There appears to be another category in Slavic, similar to that in North
Germanic, apparently rooted in pre-Christian belief:

Lower Sorbian/Lusatian: gody
Upper Sorbian/Lusatian: hody

This may have originally referred (in plural) to 'year', c.f. Russian
_god_ 'year'.  (To denote 'year', both modern languages use what appears
to be the original word for 'summer'.)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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