LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.08.24 (02) [E/LS]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 24.AUG.2004 (02) * 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) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: language varieties

Troy wrote:

>English also has "mere" meaning "(small) lake, pond, marsh"; cf. Old
English
"mere" "lake, pond, pool, cistern"; Irish Gaelic "muir" 'sea'; Lain "mare"
'sea'; etc.<

Just to be clear, "pond" is Middle English with no known previous ancestry,
related to "pound". Originally artificial  - a fish pond, a duck pond.

The "Survey of English Dialects" asked respondents for the name of a
water-filled place "on a farm" and "in a field", intending to mean an
artificial and a natural thing respectively. It seems that they didn't
understand the questions or didn't make the distinction in real life. For
the first they said dam, dew-pond, dip, dub, lodge, mere, moot, pit, pool,
pound and pond. For the second: bog-hole, dam, dew-pond, dike, dub,
dum-hole, hole, hollan, lodge, mere, pit, pond, pound and stell. Since
"dike" is usually (in England) a "ditch" I'm surprised that word didn't
appear.

BTW, where is "dam" used for the water behind a retaining wall? I thought it
was US but it's not in Chambers (US) Dictionary of Etymology though it is in
Chambers (UK) Dictionary.

>Dutch "meer" is cognate with English "more" (Old English "ma:ra", "ma:re")<

This "meer" is what we technically call "a completely different word".

John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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From: Gary Taylor <gary_taylor_98 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language Varieties

Hi all

I've got a question regarding lexicon. I remember
reading somewhere (sorry can't remember where) that
there were two words (probably more) that were
extremely different depending on where you come from
in England. One of these was for the soft shoe that
children wear when doing indoor sports - I call it a
plimsoll, and the other one was the word for when
children are playing games and they cross their
fingers to show exemption from the game for a short
time - I call it vainlites (I checked this with my
parents - my mum says the same as me, my dad calls it
vainites - my spelling for both).

I'd be interested to know what people call these in
other lowlands areas and also if anyone has got a
possible etymology for them. Is 'vain(l)ites' Germanic
and if so are there any cognates in the other Lowland
dialects??

Cheers in advance

Gary

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From: Helge Tietz <helgetietz at yahoo.com>
Subject: Lowlands-L Award/Frisian & Faeroes


Leeve Leeglanners,

To ers, veelen dank foer dat certifikat! Is ni juemmers dat ik an all de
diskussionen deelneem man ik lees de emails doch gern un find eer meist
juemmers heelsch interessant. Nu heff ik no een fraagh oever Friis un de
Faeroerne:

Dear Lowlanders



Many years ago when traveling around the Faroes the locals their told me
that the Southern Island (Suðuroy) has been influenced by Frisians and it
should also reflect in their dialect. In fact, local myth has it that one of
the last pagans on the Faroes was actually a Frisian who killed a christian
Bishop to defend his old belief. While staying on Suðuroy I was not able to
detect any Frisian substratum there but since my Faroese knowledge is rather
limited I might not have been able to detect it. The question to you is, has
anyone heard about it and does anyone have any knowledge about an apparent
Frisian influence on the dialect of Suðuroy on the Faroes?



Helge


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