LL-L "Lexicon" 2005.10.02 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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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: "Luc Hellinckx" <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: Lexicon


Ron wrote:

> Not so.  They all come from the same source and are semantically
> linked, are linked in the way that for instance English "idle" in
> "He's idle all day long" and "idle" in "idle chatter" are related.
> The common denominator, or, better, the etymological and semantic root
> of _leddig_ is that of Dutch and German _ledig_, related to _leed_
> 'limb', thus 'nimble', thus 'unbound', 'free (to move about)' >
> 'free'.  So, a pot that is _leddig_ is 'free' of contents, a jobless
> person is 'free' of work, and an unmarried person is 'free' from ...
> Well, you get the picture.  So you can argue that _leddig_ is one word
> with different semantic usages/categories, unlike Afrikaans _leer_ which 
> can be one of three homonyms.

Therefore, I think you could compare the size of vocabularies, if you'd look 
at the number of entries in a modern etymological dictionary of the 
language, provided they have all been edited alike.

As far as I know, Japanese still takes a lot of variables into account when 
adressing people (age, sex, status,...), so I think that societies with a 
complex, strict hierarchy need more words to distinguish matters, than 
cultures where differences tend to be levelled out. I was once told that 
even if you were talking about a very common animal like a cat for example 
in Japanese, you'd be using completely different words, depending on the age 
(older or younger than you), sex (same or different) and status (higher or 
lower) of your listener. Sure, we also have different words for a cat in our 
Lowlands languages, but predominantly we're using a "neutral" one I guess, 
being cat.

Bottom-line is that you're always supposed to listen very carefully, and 
then try to anticipate "who" your Japanese partner is...before talking 
yourself *s*.

Kind greetings,
Luc Hellinckx

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