LL-L "Traditions" 2008.05.07 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 07 May 2008 - Volume 03
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Traditions"

Beste Ron,

You wrote:

The three oldest of us were born at home, too, assisted by our local midwife
-- German *Hebamme* (lit. "lifting nurse/nanny"), Low Saxon *Moder/Mudder
Griepsch* (lit. "Mother Grab"). Those were the olden days when a midwife was
more than a midwife: she would periodically check on the children for years,
sometimes until they hit puberty, or she would stop you in the street and
interrogate you.


In Western Brabant, a midwife is sometimes called an "achterwares":
achterwares < Middle Dutch "achterwaren" (also in Middle Saxon) =
achter+waren = to care for.

"Waren" has numerous offspring, or the root of the verb at least: eg.
bewaren (D: to save), waar (D: true), gewaar (D)/aware/wary (E), to warn
(E), guard (E), garage, warrant (E)...
The final -es in "achterwares" denotes the female character of the
profession, actually _es_ < _erse_ (Middle Dutch), in Flemish dialects _es_
becomes _igge_ (feature of Western Dutch).

Usually however, a midwife is called a "goeivrouw" (= goede vrouw) or a
"baker" (bakeren = to keep warm, ~ bakermat).

Which brings me to the extra heating that a freshborn needs. Some think this
may have given rise to the stork-myth. Point is that people noticed that the
birds often made up their nests on chimneys of houses where a new baby had
just arrived (and where heating was thus turned up). Real reason was of
course that the storks just preferred a warm chimney to host their eggs :-D
.

Here in Brabant, one can also hear the "cabbage story", babies would be
found growing under/inside a cabbage. Cabbage (of all greenstuff), used to
be the only vegetable that provided enough vitamins and minerals in winter.
It was a symbol for "life", "survival".

Moreover, in Italy the plant was sown beginning of March, and gathered end
of November, roughly 9 months later, another metaphor for pregnancy.
When work on the land was done, people often married in fall and when winter
was finally over, the wife decided whether she and her husband got through
in good condition (depending heavily on cabbage). If so, a new baby could be
conceived in spring and giving birth would be scheduled for fall. Therefore,
the life of babies and cabbage would greatly coincide (not by chance :-D ).

Cultivation of the plant (both planting and harvesting) was also the sole
responsibility of women. In fact, when the young plants had to be pricked
out, some Italian women made fun of this. When youngsters were passing by,
they would ask them: Do you know how babies are born? If they didn't, they
would jokingly push a wooden stick in the earth and then shove the root of
the cabbage in. The ones that cut the cabbage, were even called "levatrici"
(midwives), because the root was likened to an umbilical cord. Cut: come
full circle ;-) .

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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


Thanks a lot, Luc. This is very interesting.

"levatrici" (midwives)

I take it this comes from *levare* 'to remove', 'to take off'. So this
doesn't seem all that far off German *Hebamme* (nurse that lifts up), Middle
German *hebeamme*, *hebamme*, *hefamme*, Old German *hevianna*, *hevanna*, *
hefianna*, *hefiana* or *hefila*.

Old Saxon: *hevila*, *fostermoder
*Old Frisian: *amme* ?
Old English: *cildfǽstre*, *fǽstre*, *fæstre*, *offǽstre *?
Middle English: *mide-wyue*, *mydwyfe*, *medwif*, *mydwyf*, *mede wyf*, *meyd
vyf*, etc.

Apparently, the origin of "midwife" (= "with-wife") is like that of Old
German *byvrouwe* (> *Beifrau*), which is a female assistant, midwife and
concubine all wrapped up in one ... How convenient!

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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