LL-L 'Semantics' 2006.09.04 (04) [E/LS]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 04 September 2006 * Volume 04
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From: 'Stellingwerfs Eigen' [info at stellingwerfs-eigen.nl]
Subject: LL-L 'Semantics'

Ron wrote:
> German uses _brav_ in the sense of 'well-behaved'.
> This word does not occur in Low Saxon dialects with which I'm familiar.

Uut et Stellingwarfs woordeboek:
braof I (braaf) bn., bw. = 1. zich bewust van zijn plicht, rechtschapen,
eerlijk, geen verkeerde dingen doend, ook als uitroep 2. braaf, gehoorzaam,
zoet 3. flink, goed, van behoorlijke kwaliteit

braof II bw. = in aanzienlijke mate, bijv. Hij is braof ziek, behoorlijk
ziek

Mit een vrundelike groet uut Stellingwarf,

Piet Bult

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From: Luc Hellinckx [luc.hellinckx at gmail.com]
Subject: LL-L 'Semantics'

Beste Ron,

You wrote:
> German uses _brav_ in the sense of 'well-behaved'. This word does not occur in
> Low Saxon dialects with which I'm familiar. It's equivalents would be words like
> _aardig_ (_oordig_, _orrig_), _goud_ (_good_), _wakker_ (_wacker_) and _fraam_
> (which also means 'pious'; cf. German _fromm_).
>
_aardig_ traditionally means _weird_ in Brabantish (and also in Flemish
I believe), a bit like Dutch _eigenaardig_. The idea probably being that
somebody who is _aardig_ is believed to have a strong personal _aard_ of
his/her own...which may easily have come across as eccentric in a
(medieval) close-knit society.

Greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Semantics 

Now that's an interesting semantic difference, isn't it, Luc?  It's a great
example of false friends that mean pretty much the opposite of each other.

The base is _aard_ (German _Art_) 'kind', 'sort', 'way (or doing/acting)'.

In Dutch, etc., _aard_ is not a good thing in this context; it refers to an
idiosyncratic way of acting rather than to acting according to the norm, and
behavior other than that prescribed was rarely a good thing in former times even
more than nowadays, especially on the Germanic-speaking continent (while, I feel,
British cultures have been more tolerant of eccentrism, relatively speaking,
which may have something to do with not being dominated by Calvinists, Lutherans,
Catholics and so forth).  _Egenaardig_ describes it more clearly: literally "in
one's own way," thus 'marching to one's own beat' = 'weird'.  (Here we have
cultures that did not appreciate individuality.)  Low Saxon uses _eygen-aardig_
(_egenaardig_, _egenoordig_) in exactly the same way, as does German with
_eigenartig_, and the nouns are _eygen-aard_ (_Egenaard_, _Egenoord_) and
_Eigenart_ respectively.

German _artig_ and Northern Low Saxon _aardig_ refer to the *correct* (expected)
way of acting.  In extension they came to mean 'rightly', 'properly', 'fine',
'nicely', also 'proper', and sometimes 'very'.  German _artig_ lost this sometime
during 19th century, and _artig_ for 'well-behaved' remained.  Depending on the
dialect, all of these meanings may still be intended in Low Saxon.  In both
languages you add _un-_ to create the opposite: _unardig_ and _unartig_
respectively.  The nominal equivalents _unaard_ and _Unart_ mean 'rudeness', 'bad
habit', 'vice', 'abominable behavior', etc.  Someone might call out in German,
_Das ist eine Unart!_, and this may mean something like "That's disgraceful!",
"That behavior is outrageous!", "That's  an outrage!"

_Aard_, _Art_, etc., go back to Germanic *_art_ 'plowing' ('ploughing'),
'performing agriculture', related to Latin _arare_ and Greek _aróein_ with the
same meaning.  In extension, it means 'yield'.  (There it is again!)  So I assume
that it refers to the *way* (> skill) of working a field.  Furthermore, I assume
it is related with "art," which English got from Old French, going back to Latin
_ars_, _artes_, etc.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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