LL-L "Lexicon" 2003.05.24 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: globalmoose at t-online.de (Global Moose Translations)
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2003.05.24 (01) [E]

There's another French expression that made it into Lower Saxon and
Northern
High German: "ut der Lameng".

This is from French "la main", the hand. If you know or do something "ut
der
Lameng", it means you don't need preparation, don't need to look it up
etc. - it just comes to you easily.

Gabriele Kahn

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

Theo Homan asked about words for 'kite' (the toy), noting that in most
European languages (BTW, not only Germanic ones) the names are related
to 'dragon' (and in English to a bird), while Dutch has simply _vlieger_
"flyer".  He was wondering if this is an idea that was imported from the
east.  My feeling is that it is.  We must remember that -- despite
"rumors" to the contrary -- we are dealing with Eurasia, one continent
on which cultural, technological and linguistic ideas have been passed
back and forth for a long, long time, long before Marco Polo supposedly
"discovered" China.  However, it is possible that kites were introduced
to the Dutch-speaking world from Indonesia.  In Eastern Asia, kites
traditionally come in a great variety of shapes, that of a dragon (a
symbol of great power in China) being only one of them.  Could it be
that dragon-shaped kites arrived first or made a particular impression
in Europe (given also European -- actually Eurasian -- mythology about
flying dragons)?

I am not aware of a connection between 'kite' and 'dragon' east of the
Eastern-Slavonic-speaking region.

Please find some, hopefully useful data (though no dates) below.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

Greek:
   drakon 'dragon'

Latin:
   draco 'dragon'

German:
   Drache ~ Drachen 'dragon'
   Drachen 'kite'
   < Middle German trache
   < Old German trahho

Lowlands Saxon (Low German, of Germany):
   (drake >) Draak ~ Draken 'dragon'
   Draken 'kite'

Danish:
   drage 'dragon'; 'kite'

Scots:
   draigon 'dragon'
   (fleein) draigon 'kite' ("(flying) dragon")
   (gled 'kite' [the bird])

Afrikaans:
   vlieër 'kite' ("flyer")

Farsi (Persian):
   bád-bár ~ bád-bárak 'kite'
   bád 'wind'
   bár 'burden', 'weight'
   bádbán 'sail'
   bád-bára bád-bura 'whirl' (little round piece of wood
      put on a spindle to give it a circular motion)

Turkish (Western Turkic):
   uç- 'to fly'
   uçur- 'to cause to fly', 'to fly (something)'
   uçurt- 'to cause to cause to fly' (doubled causative)
   uçurtma 'kite' (the toy -- "thing that is flown")
   -ma ~ -me (deverbal noun suffix)

Uyghur (Eastern Turkic):
   uç- 'to fly'
   uçur- 'to cause to fly', 'to blow'
   uçurma 'something/someone that has been
      caused to fly (> grow up)'; hint, allusion;
      overhanging cliff
   -ma ~ -mä (deverbal noun suffix)
   uçqur 'flying', 'speedy'
   uçquçi 'pilot'
   lägläk 'heron'; 'kite'
      lägläk uçur- 'to fly a kite'

Malay/Indonesian:
   layan 'to serve'
   melayan 'to serve'
   pelayan 'servant', 'waiter'
   layak 'to be fit/qualified'
   kelayakkan 'qualification'
   melayakkan 'to qualify'
   layang 'to fly', 'to be flow', 'to be blown'
   layang-layang 'kite' (the toy, something like "thing
      that is blown/flown" = "flyer" - duplication may
      be consistent with variety usage, often
      misinterpreted as "plural" by Westerners)
   layar 'sail'
   belayar 'to sail'
   berlayar 'to have a sail'
   pelayaran 'voyage', 'journey by (sail) boat'
   < * (+)laya+ ("fitting in or going with some power"?)?

Mandarin (Chinese):
   fengzheng (feng1zheng0) 'kite' ("wind zither")
   feng (feng1)
   zheng (zheng1) 'zither' (bamboo radical with
      phonetic indicator)

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