LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.03 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 04 May 2008 - Volume 01
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From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.05.03 (02) [E]

*Hi all,

And welcome to the world, Lorenzo!

I've heard another meaning for "Vom Storch gebissen" when my niece had her
baby son
five months ago:

Willem Fritz was born with a red V-mark on his forehead, which his paternal
family in
Pennsylvania immediately referred to as a 'bite from the stork'. *

*Is this a typical American saying for a non-permanent birth mark or only a
regional thing
originating from the German expression but with a different meaning?*

*Cheers,
Elsie*
*From: Tom Carty <cartyweb at hotmail.com>

Subject: The Way We Say Things...
The stork myth is also found in many European cultures, including in
Germany, where the bird bites the mum-to-be to fertilise her: von Storch
gebissen .
*
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Traditions

There are several Low Saxon expressions referring to pregnancy. I consider
the two mentioned below somewhat more interesting, put into whole sentences:

   1. *Sey het wat ünner dey schört.* (Se hett wat ünner de Schört.)
   "She's got something under the apron."
   2. *By er bargt sik dat.* (*Bi ehr bargt sik dat.*)
   "It's bulging on her."

The reflexive verb *barg-* (*bargen*) is derived from the noun *barg* (*Barg
*) 'mountain', 'hill', but it also has the connotation of German *sich
(ver)bergen* 'to take shelter', 'to hide'.

I believe the apparently Germanic-specific stork mythology grew from a
confluence of two traditions:

   1. Storks are monogamous, tend to return to and raise their annual
   offspring in the same nests and seem to attach themselves to the same houses
   or villages year after year, thus symbolizing traditional human ideals of
   home, family, fertility, faithfulness and constancy.
   2. In many Continental Lowlands language varieties, one of the early
   words, probably a by-name, for "stork" is **udafaro* "wetlands
   traveler" (**uda* being related to the "water" group, and
**faro*being related to the "fare" and "-farer" group). Apparently,
this came to be
   reanalyzed as **ōdaboro* ~ **ādabaro* "fortune-bearer", hence for
   instance Dutch and Afrikaans *ooievaar*, W. Frisian *earrebarre*, and
   Low Saxon *adebaar* > *aadbaar*, *aabaar*, *ebeer*, etc. (> German *
   Adebar*).

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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