question on a language

[Hugh Olmsted]

Dear Wayles and all,
No, it's not normal contemporary Latvian orthography; it's the older German-based
version that was used when Latvia was under the Germans.  Cf. the stem peez-
'five' , which is now rendered 'piec-'.  There was/is a Baltic tradition, still
kept in Estonian, of rendering a diphthong [ie] by  the digraph -ee-; and the
German-based use of "z" for the affricate now rendered by 'c'.
Hugh Olmsted

Wayles Browne wrote:

> Is it normal Latvian? What kind of spelling is it in?
>
> >It's Latvian.
> >Steve Young.
> >
> >On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, Ruth Wallach wrote:
> >
> >>  I am hoping that someone can help me identify the language on the right
> >>  hand side of the banknote on this web page:
> >>  http://www-isd.usc.edu/~gpjones/temporary/marksbig.jpg
> >>
> >>  The picture is of a five mark banknote, issued by Darlehnskasse Ost in
> >>  Kowno in 1918.  Besides German, the language on the left hand side is
> >>  Lithuanian, but I can't tell what's on the right hand side.  I don't need a
> >  > translation, just if someone thinks they can identify the language.
> >  >
>
> --
>
> Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics
> Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
> Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.
>
> tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
> fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
> e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                   http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                  http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------