LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.05 (07) [E]

Sat Jun 5 20:37:21 UTC 2004

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
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From: John Nelson <onlinelearning2 at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.05 (01) [E]

"And then there is the widespread use of 'learn'
meaning 'to teach'.  I would say this is more of a
working class usage than a particular dialect (it has
a nice history, too)."

Would venture a guess this is more prominent in the
former Danelaw region.  The root "lÃ¦re" in Danish
means "to teach."

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From: Gaidheal <gaidheal at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.05 (01) [E]

Latha math, a Lowlanders;

Pat said:
"And then there is the widespread use of 'learn' meaning 'to teach'.  I
would say this is more of a working class usage than a particular
dialect (it has a nice history, too)."

Is it possible that this difference comes from French "apprendre" and
"apprendre Ã  quelqu'un"? That is, "to learn" and literally, "to learn to
someone", "to teach". Or is this just a coincidence?

Beannachdan,
Uilleam Ã’g mhic Sheumais

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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.05 (01) [E]

John Duckworth wanted to know whether there are "false friends" between
Lower Saxon and German... I can think of one, namely "Schiet", which is the
equivalent for "ScheiÃŸe" in High German. While the latter (unless used as a
curse word, in which case it can mean anything) strictly means "excrement",
"Schiet" is often nothing worse than mud or dirt.

As for "gift": my two older daughters, then four and six, first met their
American step-grandmother shortly after Christmas. They knew very little
English at that time. She gave them nice wrapped presents; my oldest asked,
"What is that?", and she was told "It's a gift". She promptly replied, "No,
thank you" and handed it back - thoroughly shocked at the notion that this
nice lady was trying to poison here and her sister.

Gabriele Kahn

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

John Duckworth wrote:

> I was writing something the other day about 'False Friends' (Faux Amis)
> between different languages; you must all be aware of so many of them,
like
> 'gift' in English, meaning 'a present', and 'Gift' in German, meaning
> 'poison'

You can imagine the bemusement of people who know German when on Seattle's
1st Avenue by Pike Place Market they see the sign "Gift House" above a
souvenir shop with "German" decor ...

By the way, the word _gift_ (<Gift>) for 'poison' is now taking over in
Lowlands Saxon (Low German) of Germany, probably due to German influence.
However, _gift_ (<Gift>) also has the same meaning as English "gift."  I
suspect there used to be a case of false friends there originally.  Well, in
both meanings, the word is related to the verb "to give;" thus, poison is
something you give, administer ... unwelcome a gift though it may be.
Another word for 'poison' in LS is _venyn_ (<Venien> [fe'ni:n]), a Romance
loan related to English "venom."  It is also used to denote 'rage' (~
_raas(ch)_ [<Raas(ch)>]), 'fury', 'spite' (~ _spyt_ [<Spiet>]), etc.
Likewise, the derivation _venynsch_ (<veniensch> [fe'ni:nS]) means
'poisonous' or 'venomous' and also 'in a rage', 'furious', 'spiteful' (~
_spytsch_ [<spietsch>]), etc., depending on the context.

Our John further wrote:

> What I
> mean are there False Friends, for instance, between Standard German and
Low
> Saxon - two speech forms that will be spoken in the same place by the same
> person in different social contexts?

Good question, John.  I have to admit that I rarely think about it, don't
usually look out for false friends between the two languages.  However, I
will now and will share them with you if I find any.

My feeling is that, generally speaking, the number of false friends may not
be all that great.  I suspect it is greater in writing than in speaking,
because LS of Germany has been forced into a German-based orthographic mold,
but the pronunciation tends to be pretty different, such as differentiation
between monophthong [o:] and [ou] ~ [au] ~ [eu] for what in writing looks
like a long "o", differentiation between monophthong [e:] and [eI] ~ [aI]
for what in writing looks like a long "e", etc.  Furthermore, LS has
extensive lengthening of short vowels before nasals and liquids, also
nasalization before nasals, all of which acts in a "distorting" fashion,
though the LS pronunciation predominates in the Missingsch dialects of
German as well (e.g., Standard German [vEn] vs LS/Missingsch [vE~.n] for
what is written <wenn> 'when', 'if').

A glaring false friend is LS _vik_ (<Fick> [fIk]) 'pocket' (especially
'trouser pocket'), raising "High" German eyebrows even higher.  (Just change
the vowel for the English equivalent, and you'll know the German meaning
...).  Another one of this ilk is _vikker_ (<Ficker> ['fIk3]) 'piglet',
often used as a term of endearment, e.g., _lÃ¼t(ten) vikker_ (<lÃ¼tt(en)
Ficker>), for a child, especially a dirty, little child, the equivalent of
German _kleiner Dreckspatz_ or _kleiner Dreckfink_ (i.e., English 'mucky
pup', 'filthy little beggar', etc., depending on dialect and context).  And
then there is the somewhat uncomfortable-sounding "semi-friend" _vikvakken_
(<fickfacken>) 'to talk silly', 'to perform flim-flam'.  (I think this and
the preceding are related to English "to fidget," because _vikkerig_
[<fickerig> ['fIkerIC])] means 'fidgety', 'clumsy', besides 'dirty'.)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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