LL-L "Songs" 2004.03.24 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 24.MAR.2004 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Angie Foley <afoley at nahbrc.org>
Subject: "Nursery Rhyme"


    I'm looking for the right words and translation of the following nursery
rhyme, or at least I think it's some type of children's verse.  My
Grandfather used to put us on his knee, bounce us up and down and sing the
following (this is as much as I can remember):

Pa, pa, pa, pa palli
<child's name> riddem falli
<Grandpa or other child's name> riddem bunyam cow
_ _ _ _ _
 (I can't remember the last stanza)

    My great grandparents were from the Mecklenburg/Rostock/Schwerin area of
Germany.  I'd LOVE it if someone could help !  Thank you very much!!

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

Hi, Angie!

Welcome to Lowlands-L!  It's nice to meet you.

I do not actually know that song, but I can sort of make out what it means.
If I am right, I would guess that the Lowlands Saxon (Low German) dialect in
question is not from Mekelnborg/Mecklenburg (which is where the city of
Swerin/Schwerin is) but of Western Pomerania (which is where the city of
Rostock is), possibly from farther east, now Northern Poland.  I am basing
this on features such as _-en_ > _-e_ and _nd_ > _nj_, also found in
Mennonite Lowlands Saxon (Low German, "Plautdietsch"), which originated at
the Vistula Delta of Western Prussia, now Northern Poland.  What may make
identification more difficult is the possibility of this being in part
children's babble.

Roughly reconstructed (from your use of English spelling to render sounds
you remember, I assume -- * German-based spelling, + English translation):

> Pa, pa, pa, pa palli
Pappa, Pappa Pale
* Pappa, Pappa Pale (~ Pole),
+ Poppa, Poppa (~ Papa, Papa) Paulie,
[could also be onomatopoetic: "pa, pa, pa, pa" for a horse's hoofs]

> <child's name> riddem falli
<child's name> ridd den vale(n),
* <child's name> ritt den (~ dem) Fahle(n) (~ Fohle(n)),
+ <child's name> rides the foalie (= little foal),

> <Grandpa or other child's name> riddem bunyam cow
<Grandpa or other child's name> ridd dey bunde (~ bunje) kou.
* <Grandpa or other child's name> ritt de bunte (~ bunje) Koh (~ Kauh).
+ <Grandpa or other child's name> rides the spotted cow.

In German and Lowlands Saxon, _bunt_ (~ _bund_) 'multicolored' tends to mean
"spotted" with reference to animals, especially dogs and cows.  (So a
Holstein cow, which is black and white, is a _bunte kou_.)

I hope this has been of some help and you will receive further help, Angie.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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