LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.05 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 05 May 2008 - Volume 01
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From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.03 (04) [E]

I guess Dutch (archaic) "eiber" and "uiver" will be from the same source.
Maybe in "eiber" the word "ei" = egg plays a role, egg-bearer so to say.
And Dutch Low Saxon has "heileuver" from "heil" (luck, health, fortune)
+ "...", next to "störk".

Ingmar

Reindert schreef:
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 **ôdaboro* ~ **âdabaro* "fortune-bearer", hence for
  instance Dutch and Afrikaans *ooievaar*, W. Frisian *earrebarre*, and
  Low Saxon *adebaar* > *aadbaar*, *aabaar*, *ebeer*, etc. (> German *
  Adebar*).

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From: Maria Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.03 (02) [E]

Hi all,

Dankscheen, Sönke, then I guess the Pennsylvanians actually say 'stork bite'
rather than 'bitten by the stork'.

Cheers,
Elsie Zinsser

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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.com
Subject: LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.05

Mörike's "Storchenbotschaft" gives the tradition in all its glory/fun.

He has the shepherd ask the storks quite directly
"Du hast wohl mein Mädel gebissen ins Bein?"

It's only at the end of the poem he realises why two storks have come to
tell him about the happy delivery!

English also has 'stork bites' for the red marks otherwise known as
'strawberry marks' that babies sometimes have at birth, which then fade over
the next few months ( mostly)

And we also use the stork image as baby deliverer on cards etc even tho'
storks do not favour England with their presence - except perhaps
occasionally in East Anglia??? or am I imagining that.

So when did we adopt the image? Did it come over with the Angles & the
Jutes? Or is it a late entry into our traditions? Or did we used to have
storks on a regular basis nesting over here?

Some many questions!

best wishes

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

Is it possible that in Britain and later in other English-speaking countries
the Germanic stork tradition got the French cabbage patch tradition as a
competitor? If so, did the latter come in with Norman times or later? And --
to join our Heather -- how old is this stork thing? Might it go back all the
way to Old Saxon times?

It is interesting to note that the stork tradition appears to be
specifically Lowlandic, according to the Wikipedia:

The stork's folkloric role as a bringer of babies and harbinger of luck and
prosperity may originate from the Netherlands and Northern Germany, where it
is common in children's nursery stories.

Did anyone mention that in the original versions of the tradition the stork
drops the baby through the chimney?

The Dutch and both Low Saxon Wikipedia versions make no mention of the stork
traditions.

According to the German Wikipedia, there is also an old tradition in which
the stork cares for the elderly.

Interestingly, most Wikipedia versions do not mention the tradition, but the
Indonesian and Turkish ones do, and they do so without looking like straight
translations of the English version.

It may be interesting to note that in ancient Chinese tradition storks take
the spirits of the deceased to heaven.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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