[Lexicog] words for different kinds of laughter

[Fritz Goerling]

Andrew,

 

You seem to be anglophone. If you can give me a few contexts where “guffaw”
is used to describe the kind of laughter, then I might come up with an
equivalent in German.

In an answer to Donald Pepper, I guessed it is used of men in a group. I
could imagine the “loud laughter” to be a hearty belly-laugh,

or the men slapping their thighs, or a “wieherndes Lachen” (a loud neighing
kind of laugh, usually used negatively), or a “brüllendes Lachen” (roaring
).

Am I right in assuming that “guffaw” is only used of “men?”

I assume that the audience of a Mr. Bean film would more tend to guffaw when
watching Rowan Atkinson playing

in “Johnny English” (a spoof on James Bond movies) the master spy ending up
as the King of England, then they would about  Peter Sellers in a “Pink
Panther” movie. 

 

Fritz Goerling

 

On 2/23/07, Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling@ <mailto:Fritz_Goerling at sil.org>
sil.org> wrote:

 

I am interested in how different kinds of laughter are expressed in
different languages and what principles (of word formation, onomatopoeia,
etc.) are followed in building these words.

Some examples from English and German:

 

English                                German

 

to chuckle                            glucksen (not an exact equivalent)

to giggle                               kichern

to cackle                              gackern

to snicker/snigger              ?

to titter                                  one would have to describe it by
a paraphrase or show it

 

What elements enter into play as differentiating factors? Who does what,
when, under which circumstances?

Agent (individual or group; gender), patient (absence or presence),
differences in rank (social situation)?

 

 

Fritz Goerling


What about "guffaw" for which dict.leo.org suggests only "laut lachen"


Andrew Dunbar.

 





 

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