LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.09.12 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 12.SEP.2002 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: "Thomas Byro" <thbyro at earthlink.net>
Subject: dildop

Although we spoke Hochdeutsch at home, my mother peppered her speech
with
Platt words and expressions all her life.  I have forgotten most of my
Platt
(never met anyone in the U.S. who spoke it), and I wonder about the
meaning
of some of the words she used.  She is now deceased and I cannot ask
her.
Does anyone know what a dildop is?

Tom Byro

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

Thomas,

I have never before come across the word in Lowlands Saxon (Low
German).  I do know, however, that _Dilldop_ or _Dilldopp_ means
"spinning top" (the toy, German _Kreisel_, LS _Küsel_ ~ _Krüsel_) in
some Ripuarian dialects, such as that of Cologne (Köln), which are used
right nextdoor to the southwesternmost LS dialects of Westphalia and to
Germany's Low Frankish cousins of Limburgish.  _Dilldop_ or _Dilldopp_
tends to specifically denote a "casting top" or "flinging top" (G.
_Wurfkreisel, LS _Smeetk(r)üsel_ ~ _Worpk(r)üsel_), one of those you
wind a string around and then throw it to give it momentum.  Could your
mother have likened you to one of those (perhaps ditsy or confused like
a play top)?

>From which neck of the woods in the old country did your mother or her
ancestors come?  This might help us narrow it down with regard to
dialect.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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