<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">podes)===========================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 23 October 2009 - Volume 02<br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><a href="mailto:lowlands@lowlands-l.net">lowlands@lowlands-l.net</a> - <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/">http://lowlands-l.net/</a></span><br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">
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===========================================<br></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: R. F. Hahn <</span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: Etymology</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Dear Lowlanders,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm not sure if this should be "Etymology" or "Lexicon". It's really both. ("Leximology"?)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As many of you undoubtedly know, kinship terminologies are rich fields of research for linguists, richer ones for cultural and social anthropologists.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Recently I became aware of the fact that Scots and Low Saxon more or less share what I suspect is a part of an old kinship naming system that has been replaced in most related languages or are only found in some of their archaic dialects. This is a system in which more specificity is required where nowadays we use the general labels (in this instance "nephew" and "nice").</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">First of all, let me mention that English "nephew" and "nice" are derived from Norman loanwords. "Nephew" comes from Anglo-Norman (a Romance language) </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nevou</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">neveu</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nevew</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nevu</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">newu</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">. "Niece" comes from Anglo-Norman </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nece</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nice</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">niece</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">. </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The interesting thing (at least to <i>me</i>) is that these words actually have Germanic cognates (= genealogically related words) that were used in Old English: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nefa</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> (pronounced "nehva") and </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nift </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">respectively. Old Frisian has </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">neva </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">'nephew' and </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nift</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> 'niece'. Old Saxon has </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nevo</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> for "nephew" and </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nifta</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> or </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nichta</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> for 'niece'. ("ch" and "f" tended to alternate in those days of yore.) Middle Dutch and Middle Saxon have </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">neve</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> meaning not only 'nephew' but also 'grandson', as well as </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nifte</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nichte</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> meaning not only 'niece' but also 'granddaughter'. Old German </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nefe </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">or</span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> neve </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">denotes 'nephew' or 'kinsman' and </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nift(a)</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> denotes 'niece' or 'close female relative'. The extension of 'kinsman' is found also in Old Norse </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nefi</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">, otherwise meaning 'nephew'. (Much of this seems to have to do with what I call "honorary kinship appellation for non-relatives.") Originally, the two probably served as general labels for relatives of one's children's and grandchildren's generations. (Many of the world's languages generalize in this way outside one's own generation.) You can see this idea of "following generation" in the case of Lithuanian </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nepuotis </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">'grandchild', Classical Latin </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nepōt</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> ~ </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nepōs</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> 'grandson' (from which we got the word "nepotism", which, interestingly, is called <i>Vetternwirtschaft</i> "cousin economy" in German!), Greek <i>νέποδες </i>(</span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">n</i><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CRon%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>
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</style><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">é</span>podes</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">) 'offspring' (plural), Avestan and Old Persian </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">napāt </i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">'grandson', and Sanskrit नपात् (</span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">napāt</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">) 'descendant'. <br>
<br>(By the way, Old Irish has </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nia(th)</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> for 'sister's son', generalized in Modern Irish as </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nia</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> 'nephew'. Old Irish </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">necht</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> became Modern Irish </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">niacht</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> 'niece', and Welsh has </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nith</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> for 'niece' -- all pretty predictable in terms of phonological shifts.)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And now to the more specific system Scots by and large shares with Low Saxon and possibly with certain other Lowlands varieties.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Low Saxon does not have (= has lost?) the general labels "nephew" and "niece". You need to specify whose child you are dealing with, your brother's or your sister's. Scots speakers, however, </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">can</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> resort to using the surviving general labels.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">SCOTS</b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Half gender-neutral: <b><i>nevoy</i></b></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's child: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>brither-bairn</b><br></i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's child: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>sister-bairn</i></b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Nephew: <b><i>nevoy</i></b></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's son: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>brither-son</i></b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's son: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>sister</b></i><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>-son</i></b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Niece: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>niece<br></i></b><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's daughter: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>sister</b><b>-dochter</b></i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's daughter: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>brither-dochter</b></i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">LOW SAXON</b><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> (of Northern Germany)</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Half gender-neutral: --</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's child: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Broderkind</b><br>
</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's child: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Süsterkind</i></b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Nephew: -</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's son: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Brodersœhn</i></b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's son: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Süster</i></b><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>sœhn</i></b><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Niece: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">--<br></i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's daughter: </span><b style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Broder</i></b><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>dochter</b></i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Sister's daughter: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Süsterdochter</b></i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As you can see, the principle is the same, but in Low Saxon there are no general label choices as there are, for the most part, in Scots.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Those of you that are familiar with North Germanic languages will recognize similarities to systems that require specificity on the grandparents' level as well as on that of one's own generation; e.g.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Danish:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Nephew: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">søstersøn, brodersøn
</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Niece: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">broderdatter, søsterdatter
</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Swedish:</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Nephew: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nevö: brorson, systerson<br></i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Niece: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">niece: brorsdotter, systerdotter</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
<br>Not mentioning actual names for grandparents (which I will leave for another day).<br></span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And ...</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Old English:<br>Male:<br>General: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nefa</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's son: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">brōþorsunu</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's son: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">sweostor</i><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">sunu</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Female:<br>General: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nefene, nift</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Brother's "child"=daughter: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">brōþor</i><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">bearn</i><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sister's "child"=daughter: </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">sweostor</i><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">bearn</i><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">As you can see, in Old English (= proto-Saxon?) the system defaults to neutral </span><i style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">-bearn</i><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> "-child" in the case of females (nieces).</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">And, dear Lowlander brothers and sisters, we have barely even scratched the tip of the iceberg, leave alone embedded our Coke or Scotch glasses in its icy gouges! The plot most definitely thickens as we go along. Much can be discovered and revealed about the Lowlandic ancestors' kinship and gender perceptions as we pursue this thread, if we do. And this is but a tiny, tiny sliver of mankind's kinship and gender perception! (In sociocultural anthropology this is the basic concept on which inheritance rules and thus the survival of the "race" rest!)<br>
<br>Why, our Jewish brothers and sisters whose presence was at the best of times tolerated, became so confused by this goyish naming <i>balagan</i> (i.e. mess) that in Yiddish (derived from Middle German and continued in the largely Slavic-speaking east) the poor things ended up with a mixture of Middle German, Slavic and Semitic kinship terminologies! Oy, va-avoy!</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Kindest of regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Seattle, USA</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
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