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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 08 April 2009 - Volume 09<br>
===========================================</span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br>
From: <span class="gd"><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Hellinckx Luc</span></span></span><span class="gi"> </span><span class="go"><<a href="mailto:luc.hellinckx@gmail.com">luc.hellinckx@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="gi">LL-L "Literature"</span><br>
<br>
Beste Ron,</p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Â </span></p>
<p style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">You wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br style="">
</span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style="word-spacing: 0px;">Upon "popular" demand, and now that,
happily, the lovely Shetland Islands are being
mentioned again, I am reposting a link to a terrific video clip of the Shetland
Norn ballad <i>Hildinakvadet</i> from Foula, 1774:</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
<a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TXrn0xoOcE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TXrn0xoOcE</a><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">
The ballad is sung, and the Norn text is shown with English translations.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">On the
Youtube-site, there's an interesting remark about the Icelandic word
"feigur", being prepared to die, quite a crucial word for Vikings I
believe, not in the least because Germanic ethics traditionally viewed
"being a coward" as worse than evil.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Danish has
"fej", German "feige" and Dutch "veeg", all with
approximately the same meaning that goes back to a more original one,
"excitement that one shows when he is prepared/doomed to die,
moribund". By the way, modern English didn't inherit the word (fatality
>< religion?), but Scottish preserved it: fey (having foresight, second
sight on things to come).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">These
meanings are all quite predictable, but what puzzles me is the meaning of
"vijg" in Flemish and Brabantish: simply "evil". "Ön
vaëg" (B) denotes a person who is truly a ragamuffin, a no-good, a
criminal, but it can also be said of material objects that don't quite
"behave" as they should.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">All I could
find is that this may go back to "vijg" (Latin ficus carica, a fig)
as another word for "poison". I guess the fig tree itself cannot be
held responsible for so much negativity, but did come across a more symbolic
meaning of "fig": ulcer, tumor (small step to "poison",
"no-good"). Maybe the shape of the fig itself lended itself to this
newer meaning, am not sure. French has the same semantics, but the other Roman
languages sharply differ, both Italian, Spanish and Portuguese associate a fig,
with the very "essence" of a woman, una fica/figa = a vulva (and also
by extension a derogatory term for woman in Italian). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Let me just
give you an extract of a French etymological dictionary (regarding
"figue"):</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Douce,
Illustrations of Shakspeare and of ancient manners, Londres, 1839, p. 302307,
pense que l'origine de la locution faire la figue, n'est pas dans la vengeance
prise par Frédéric Barberousse du Milanais, et qu'il faut y voir non figue,
mais fic, sorte d'ulcère. La forme du mot s'oppose à cette dérivation : c'est
en français figue et non pas fi, fica en italien et non pas fico, higa en
espagnol et non pas higo. Mais une autre difficulté s'élève : est-ce bien la
figue qui est dans la locution. J'ignore si le récit relatif à la figue, Ã
Frédéric Barberousse et aux Milanais est authentique ; en tout cas, dès le
XIIIe siècle, les figues et les Milanais étaient réunis dans l'opinion commune,
témoin ces vers d'un troubadour, Raimond de Miraval, cité par Raynouard :
Preno'l sordeis c'avian soanat, Aissi com fes lo Lombart de la figuas (Prennent
la souillure qu'ils avaient méprisée, ainsi comme le Lombard fit des figues).
Le français aussi, dans le XIIIe siècle, voit une figue dans la locution :
" Cil prince nous ont fet la figue. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="NL">" De ce
côté-ci des Alpes, la figue est en jeu. Mais la chose devient douteuse en
Italie, en Espagne et en Portugal. L'italien dit fica : far le fiche, le
castagne, faire la figue, la nique ; et le sens propre de fica est la nature de
la femme ; le plus ancien exemple italien de la locution est du maître de
Dante, Brunetto Latini, qui, dans son Tesoretto, p. 84, dit : Credes i far la
croce, Ma el ti fa la fica. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Dans un texte de pays italien, Du Cange a ficham facere ; on
remarquera que le mot est écrit par une h, ficha. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="NL">L'espagnol dit
: hacer la higa ; higa, en cette langue, signifie amulette. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Le portugais a dar figas, faire la
figue ; figa, ici aussi, signifie amulette. En regard de ces formes, il devient
douteux que fica, higa, figa soient le même mot que l'ital. fico, s. m. figue,
l'espagn. higo, s. m. et le portug. figo, masculin aussi. Il semble donc que
fica, higa, figa sont les mêmes que le franç. fiche, et le prov. fica, piqûre,
appui, se rattachant au lat. figere ; de là on déduit sans peine le sens
d'amulette, chose fichée, appendue ; avec plus de difficulté le sens italien de
nature de la femme. De la sorte, far la fica, ficham facere serait un geste de
maléfice. Mais alors que reste-t-il de la figue et de l'histoire de Frédéric
Barberousse et des Milanais ?</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â See the
connection with "amulet"? Come full circle???</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Not so,
according to Grimm, who seems to admit that both words did influence each other
(feige, coward and Feige the fruit), but are essentially different. If one
looks at the different meanings of the adjective within German, one is tempted
though to assume a more general meaning in a very distant past.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">In any
case, I'd like to find out if (and how) "woman", "evil" and
"cowardice" could possibly be connected. Actually I'd rather hope,
these semantic fields are not connected, but I wouldn't be surprised if ancient
folklore sees this differently.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">And...because
Easter is near, I'd like to end with the Dutch expression:Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="NL">"Het zijn vijgen na Pasen"Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="NL">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">said when
something comes too late. Among catholics, a period of fasting had to be
respected before Easter. During this time, one had to stick to a list of food
items that were allowed to be eaten, figs were OK and contained quite a lot of
sugar, so they were readily eaten. After Easter, (rich) people were pretty much
"fed up" eating old dried figs as they could again sample fresh
stuff. So at that time they reconsidered figs as "ersatz" food, fruit
that is kind of pointless being eaten after Easter...*s*</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Kind
greetings,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Luc
Hellinckx</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">PS: More
info about "not giving a fig", "showing a fig" and
"the evil eye" here:Â <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cuubca" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/cuubca</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">PPS: I
remember Desmond Morris writing about the biological origin of
"gestures", but would like to know if ever the geographic
distribution of these was studied.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">----------<br>
<br>
From: <span style="color: rgb(91, 16, 148);">R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>></span></span></p>
<p class="songbody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Subject: Etymology<br>
<br>
Luc,<br>
<br>
In English, "fey" is dialectical (mostly northern) and archaic, from
Old English <i>f</i></span><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">ǽgi</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">.<br>
<br>
The basic meaning, common to all cognates, seems to be "timid". <br>
<br>
In English, one of the semantic extensions seems to be "timid" >
"shy" > "coy", "elusive" > "like a
fairy".<br>
<br>
You find this for instance in the American folksong "Polly-Wolly Doodle":</span></p>
<p class="songbody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="songbody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 40px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Fare
thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy <b>fey</b>.<br>
For I'm going to Lou'siana, for to see my Susianna,<br>Singing Polly-Wolly Doodle all the day.</span></p>
<p class="songbody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Â </span></p>
<p class="songbody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Apparently
the adjective here follows the noun, as in "Mother dear".<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron<br>
Seattle, USA</span></p>
•
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