LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.01.04 (01) [E]

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian |
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L O W L A N D S - L - 04 January 2007 - Volume 01
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From: John Duckworth <johncduckworth at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Lowlands-List. Lexicon.(E. /LS.)

Dear Lowlanders,

I have a feeling something has been said on this subject before, but can you
give me some information about the greetings _Moin!_ and  _Moin moin!_ ?

As far as I know these phrases come from Frisian, and originated in the
Schleswig-Holstein area before spreading into the rest of North Germany.

Do they really come from the Frisian _mooi_ (which would of course be Dutch
too), 'good', 'beautiful'; and _moin_, meaning 'day' (presumably < -morn_
?).

Or do they just represent a shortened version of Low Saxon _moien Dag!_
(Good day!)?

I would also like to know what the present distribution of these phrases is.
(I have heard them in Danish Jutland.) And if they can be used any time of
the day.

John Duckworth
Manchester, UK.

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

Moin, John!

Personally I think there's a good chance the word mooi 'nice', 'pleasant',
etc., in Dutch and Western Low Saxon started off as a Frisian loan (and
remember that much of today's Dutch- and LS-speaking territory used to be
Frisian-speaking), but I've never thought that the salute Moin(-moin) is a
Frisian loan.  I'm pretty convinced that it's a Low Saxon invention, a
remnant of greeting phrases in which mooi or moi modified a masculine-gender
noun such as dag 'day', morgen 'morning' or avend 'evening'.

As for the suffix -(e)n, please consider the paradigm:

Nominative:

Masculine:

Dat is 'n moyen dag.
(Dat is 'n moin Dag.)
It's a pleasant day.

Dat is 'n moyen morgen.
(Dat is 'n moin Morgen.)
It's a pleasant morgen.

Dat is 'n moyen avend.
(Dat is 'n moin Avend.)
It's a pleasant evening.

Feminine:

Dat is 'n moye nacht.
(Dat is 'n moie Nacht.)
It's a pleasant night.

Dat is 'n moye vyer.
(Dat is 'n moie Fier.)
It's a pleasant party.

Neuter:

Dat is 'n moy(et) wedder.
(Dat is 'n moi(et) Wedder.)
It's (a) pleasant (sort of) weather.

Dat is 'n moy(et) jaar.
(Dat is 'n moi(et) Jahr.)
It's a pleasant year.

In these instances the forms are the same in objective case, such as if you
use Wy hebt ... 'We're having ...' instead of Dat is ... 'That/it is ...'.

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron

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