LL-L "History" 2010.03.14 (03) [EN]

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 13 March 2010 - Volume 03*
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From: Marcus Buck <list at marcusbuck.org>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2010.03.14 (02) [EN]

From: Jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>

 Subject: LL-L "History" 2010.03.14 (01) [EN]

  Beste Ron,

you wrote:

Middle German?! For some reason I was assuming that it was Middle Saxon
("Middle Low German") and that that was the reason for which we are
discussing this on Lowlands-L.

 And so thought I (and I guess, Hanne as well ;-)!) when I first read the
inscription *"myt wyllen dyn eygen". *I was waiting for special explanations
about the Northern, i.e. Low Saxon origin of the ring.
But going further in the text I learned that it probably was manufactured by
a Southern German (Augsburg) goldsmith who had lived in Venice for a while.
And later we find some passages written in a German dialect which I guess to
be late Middle HIGH German.


Low German/Saxon, Middle German, Upper German, there is no way to know, the
text is too short and doesn't show any non-Gemeingermanisch features. "dyn"
may look Low German, but even today there are Upper German dialects who
don't show the Middle High German diphthongization (
<http://137.248.81.135/diwa/ECW.asp?ID1=191><http://137.248.81.135/diwa/ECW.asp?ID1=191>).
The Middle High German diphthongization started roundabout 1200 and spread
from the extreme south-east. The spread ended in the 16th century. So
perhaps the ring is from one of the areas which were not yet affected by the
Middle High German diphthongization about 1500. Or the area was already
affected and it's just conservative spelling. From the text we cannot tell.

Marcus Buck

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