LL-L: "Reduplication" LOWLANDS-L, 05.MAY.2000 (11) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: "Reduplicates"

> From: Mari Sarv [Mari at haldjas.folklore.ee]
> Subject: LL-L: "Romance connection" LOWLANDS-L, 05.MAY.2000 (05) [E]
>
> One can find such reduplicative and totally or partly meaningless, often
> onomatopoetic word pairs in Estonian fraseology, incantations and magic
> formulas, but especially in riddles. Some 15% of 100000 Estonian
> riddles use
> this kind of words, where only one or two first letters are changing:
> kuusnas-kaasnas, pinnuke-pannuke, punter-vunter, ketras-metras.
>
> I have met some of them in English riddles but I would like to know more
> about the use of such kind of reduplicatives in Lowland languages.

These are quite common in Scots children's rhymes and riddles.

An example of a Scots counting-out rhyme:

Zeenty-peenty heathery-mithery,
Bumfy-leery over-dover,
Saw the king o Heazle-Peazle
Lowpin ower Jerusalem Dyke;
    Black fish, white troot,
    Eerie-oorie, you'r oot!

mither: mother
dover: to doze
lowpin: leaping
ower: over
troot: trout
eerie: spooky
oorie: sinister, not quite right

It may be that the "zeenty peenty" &c is a traditional counting method (for
example I've seen counting methods in traditional English dialects with such
numbers as "hickory" & "dickory" - I think "hickory dickory dock" in the
English nursery rhyme means "ten, eleven, twelve" or something like that. I
imagine similarly that "Eeny meeny miney mo" might mean "one, two, three,
four" or "one, two, three, more").

Another Scots counting-rhyme used for selecting an object such as a sweetie
hidden in a fist:

Nievie-nievie nick-nack,
What will ye tik-tak?
Tak ane, tak twa,
Tak the best amang them aa.

nievie: diminutive of "nieve" (fist)
tak: take
ane: one
twa: two
amang: amongst
aa: all

Some Scots nursery rhymes:

Hickety-bickety, pease scone,
Whaur shall this puir Scotsman gang?
Will he gang aest, or will he gang west,
Or will he gang ti the craw's nest?

and:

Lingle-lingle, lang-tang, [lINl liNl lQ:N tQ:N]
Oor cat's deid!
What did she dee wi?
Wi a sair heid!

oor: our
deid: dead
dee wi: die of (ie "die with")
sair heid: headache

This one's not really reduplication but it's just as meaningless to me:

A dis, a dis, a green gress,
A dis, a dis, a dis;
Come aa ye bonny lassies
An dance alang wi us.

There are quite a number of songs that have choruses in the same flavour,
some suggestive of actual sounds, like this one of a pipe band:

Ricky doo-dum day,
Ricky doo-dum day,
Ricky-ticky doo-dum day!

This one of a trumpet (recorded or written by Burns):

Hey tuttie-taitie, [h at i 'tVtI 'te:tI]
Hou tuttie-taitie,
Hey tuttie-taitie,
Wha's fou nou?

And a few that as far as I can see just tickle the fancy when sung to the
right tune:

Dirnum doo-ay, doo-ay, day,
Dirnum doo-ay, daddie, O!

and:

Hey dan dilly dow,
How den dan,
Rich were yer mither
Gin ye were a man.

There are probably lost meanings hidden in some of these - it's beyond me to
gloss any of them!

Finally (again, not really reduplication, but interesting), this
particularly bizzare rhyme that Scottish children have used to convince
others that they're telling the truth:

A ring, a ring, a pinky,
    If A tell a lee,
A'll gang ti the bad place,
    Whenever A dee.
White pan, black pan,
    Burn me ti daith,
Tak a muckle gully
    An cut ma braith,
Ten mile ablo the earth.
                         Amen!

pinky: little finger
lee: lie (falsehood)
gang: go
the bad place: Hell
whenever: as soon as
dee: die
daith: death
muckle: big
gully: large knife
braith: breath
ablo: below

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

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