LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.08.22 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 22.AUG.2002 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: "Luc Hellinckx" <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
Subject: Language varieties

Beste leeglanners,


In what follows, I would like to give a few examples of common traits
between Western Flemish (WF), Saxon and English.

1) "snakken" (to talk) is also used in Western Flemish, but only when
somebody is snapping, "je moe zo ni snakn tegen mi"...besides, a glottal
stop is just as popular in Western Flemish as it is in Cockney, so
"sna'n"
does more justice to the pronounciation

2) the estuary of a river is also called "muide", just like "mouth" in
English, e.g. "Diksmuide", "de Muide" (north of Ghent), whereas
Brabantish
uses "mond(e)"

3) "compensatierekking" (stretching of a vowel because of a succeding
nasal
sound) has been active in the following examples :
"oes" or "uus" (WF), "us" (E) vs. "ons" (B), "uns" (G)
"Goesevoorde" (WF place-name denoting a ford for geese), "Goes" (in
Zeeland)
vs. "gans" (B)
"Ruddervoorde" (WF place-name denoting a ford for cattle ~ rinder(pest),
just like Oxford was a ford for oxen once upon a time *s*) vs.
"rèns(biëst)"
(B), "rund" (D), "rind" (G)

4) the old word for a "meadow" (E) used to be "mede" or "meet", like in
"Meetkerke" (WF) or "Meetjesland", "made" (MLG); Frankish dialects like
Brabantish for example, previously used the word "beemd" though...which
is
nowadays being replaced by "wei(de)"...(which brings me to the
interesting
Brabantish word "vogelweide", used to describe "land which is lying
fallow",
like in "Walther von der Vogelweide")

5) the past/perfect participle was thoroughly reduced in the following
cases
"bleven", "komen", "vonden", "kregen" (WF), instead of "gebleven",
"gekomen", "gevonden", "gekregen"...other verbs were also truncated but
kept
an "e" or a "i" at the start : "imaeckt" (old WF), "elaten"
(French-Flanders)

6) Western Flemish has a tendency to use "-s" for the plural of a noun
in
contrast with Brabantish that prefers "-n"

7) palatalisation of k (> ts) used to be quite productive in (WF),
judging
toponymic names like "Cimbarsaca" (815) > Semmerzake and "Bucingehem"
(996,
~ Buckingham (E)) > Butsegem.

8) words like "pit", "dinne", "brigge" for "pit" (E), "thin" (E),
"bridge"
(E) were all once (or still) used in some part(s) of Western Belgium.

Somewhere I read (but I cannot recall where), that Saxon migration to
England happened in more than one way; the oldest movement was a wave
(in 2
phases), where the Belgian and the French coast first got colonised,
thereafter crossing the Channel to Southern England, succeded (centuries
later on) by a series of (one-way *s*) boat-trips from Northern Germany
straight to Eastern England.

Those who would like to know more about the relation between Ingvaeonic
(=
North Sea Germanic) and Frankish could have a look here :

http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/heer023wati01/heer023wati01_001.htm

Slightly off-topic I admit, but for those who found the evolution of
"Yorvik" to "York" far-fetched, I would like to refer to a similar
process
happening in Lowlands place-names like :

opwijk > oppek, opaëk
kootwijk > kodek
greenwich > grinitsj
norwich > norritsj
jukwerd > jukkerd

where v (w) is always omitted. Thus "Yorvik" could have sounded "Jorrek"
at one time...and will then probably have been reinterpreted at a later
date.

Greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Luc:

> "snakken" (to talk) is also used in Western Flemish, but only
> when somebody is snapping, "je moe zo ni snakn tegen mi"...

As you seem to already know, this is the normal word for 'to speak', 'to
talk', in most North Saxon dialects and also in many Mecklenburgish
ones, usually _snacken_ ['snakN=], in some dialects _schnacken_
['SnakN=] or farther southeast _schnacke_ ['Snak@].  Within the North
Saxon dialect areas there are dialect groups that use _spreken_
['spre:kN=] ~ ['Spre:kN=] or, in the far northwest (parts of Eastern
Friesland, Oldenburg and Emsland) where they say _praten_ ~ _praot(e)n_
['pr@:tn=].  _Snacken_ made it's way into the South Jutish dialects and
into Danisch proper (_snakke_) and from there into Dano-Norwegian
(_Bokmål_) (_snakke_), into Swedish as well (_snacka_ 'to yap').  (Might
there be a connection with English "to snack" < _snaken_ 'to bite'?)

> "oes" or "uus" (WF), "us" (E) vs. "ons" (B), "uns" (G)
> "Goesevoorde" (WF place-name denoting a ford for geese), "Goes" (in
> Zeeland) vs. "gans" (B)

These words are ingveonic in some dialects, not others, thus _uns_
[?U.ns] ~ _us_ [?Us] 'us', 'our', but always _Goos_ [go.Us] 'goose'
(plural _Göös'_ [g9:Iz] ~ _Geus_ ~ _Gäus_ [gO:Is], but in many eastern
dialects assumedly German-loaned _Gans_, _Jans_, and Mennonite
Plautdietsch _Gauns_ (< _Gans_), plural _Jans_ (< *_Jäns_ < *_Jänse_ <
_Gänse_).

> the old word for a "meadow" (E) used to be "mede" or "meet",
> like in
> "Meetkerke" (WF) or "Meetjesland", "made" (MLG);

In dialects of Schleswig-Holstein and Eastern Friesland _Mede_ ['me:de]
(or ['mE.Ide]?) or _Meed'_ [me:.(d)] (or [mE:I(d)]?) are still used to
denote 'grassland', 'meadow (especially for growing grass for hay
production)'.

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron

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