LL-L "Travels" 2007.06.17 (04) [E]

Sun Jun 17 20:41:32 UTC 2007

L O W L A N D S - L  -  16 June 2007 - Volume 04

=========================================================================

From: "Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc." <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics"

Last week-end I was on Spitsbergen looking for some remnants of old Dutch
culture. I did not meet any Dutch people, but met 4 Belgians and 1 Italian,
who were all among the 28 who finished the maraton on Longyearbyen on Sunday
the 10th (for which the had to tour the same circuit a couple of times,
since there are just a few miles of road on Spitsbergen)

For *nationalistic politics* the Norwegians turned the Dutch name
Spitsbergen into Svalbard, referring to an old Icelandic chronicle, and many
other old names may be renamed. The American mining city Longyear-city
became Longyearbyen (actually the capital).

An inventory of place names has been made:
"The place names of Svalbard", 2003, Tromsø, Norwegian Polar Institute,
Rapportserie nr. 122, 537 pp, ISBN 82-7666-194-7, (in English), sells for
NOK 398 in the Smalbardbutikken in Longyearbyen.
Most namegiving has been done by geographists when drafting topological
maps. Some can be traced back to history.

Spitsbergen was discovered by the Dutchman Willem Barentsz in 1596, and
appeared first in a printed French text in 1613 ".. non autre que Monts &
montaignes aigues, paquoy l'appellions Spitsbergen". The name was used for
the archipelago till 1925 when it was replaced by Svalbard, after which the
major island of Vestspitsbergen was renamed into Spitbergen.

On Amsterdamøya Smeerenbukte, Smeerenburg, Smeerenburgbreen,
Smeerenburgfjorden, Smeerenburgodden, Smeerenburgsletta ... all refer to the
17th century camp of Dutch whalers. Smeer refers to the speck or blubber.

Some others:
- Ny-Friesland penninsula between Wijdefjorden and Hinlopenstretet
- Bangenhuk: point on the Southern side of Mosselbukta
- ..

Also whalers from Nothern Germany settled temporarily on the island, cf. eg.
- Hamburgbukta (curiously old names included: Baie de Hambourg, Baie des
Basques, Baie des Hamborgeois, Baie Hamburger, Baskes Bay, Hambros Creek,
etc.)

In quit a lot of names, the name sounds close to Dutch but may have been
adapted to Norwegian. The dictionary does not specify though.

An other interesting book is:
Thor B. Arlov, D-Svalbards historie, 2. reviderte utgave,  2003, Trondheim,
Tapir Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 82-519-1851-0, 499 pp., sells for NOK 410 in
the Smalbardbutikken in Longyearbyen.
Maps and other interesting books are edited by the Norwegian Polar Institute
cf. http://npweb.npolar.no/

For the settlement of Баренцбург, sold in 1932 by the "NV Nederlandsche
Spitsbergen Companie" to the Russians, I found a bilingual English-Russian
large size photo-album in the (Norwegian) post office of Barentsburg, for
just NOK 100.
"Glacial El Dorado, Spitsbergen, 2001, Penta, Moscow, 240 pp;, ISBN
5-88950-024-4
Very nicely illustrated, but somehow with a flavor of an old Sovjet style.
Barentsburg is the only Rusian mine still running, and is operated by
Russian and Ukrainian miners. Barentsburg is only accessible by boat, by
snow scooter or eventually by the Russian helicopter.
Our guide over there was Ukrainian, his wife is the postmaster of the
Norwegian post office on the site, but since he had the keys, he could help
us with cards and stamps on Sunday.
Although some indications are multilingual, I guess one needs to speak
Russian for having a decent conversation with people in the local bar.
The site has a little memorial church, erected after the plane cras of 1996,
cf. url:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vnukovo_Airlines_Flight_2801

BTW boot trips are organized day and night over there. In June the amount of
light depends on the cloudiness of the sky only, and not of the hour of the
day. Housebuilding in Longyearbuyen is done around the clock in the summer.
Overbooked guests in our hotel have been hanging in the bar all night (if
that word has a sense). Curiously on the passengers boats one gets safety
instructions and life suits and jackets are foreseen. On the small
speedboats though, no instructions are given, and the suit just protects
against water splashes (while the water contains melting ice, and distances
up to several hours far from Longyearbyen are covered.

Have met just one American (from Arizona) on a boat trip. He was there for
business for Boeing satellite systems.

Have been discussing language use in Norway with a Norwegian couple in a
restaurant. They live in Bergen, he is from Bergen and speaks with a Bergen
version of the language, she is from Oslo and speaks a more standard
version. I guess everybody in Norway speaks his *own version* of the
language.

On the way home, I did some shopping in Oslo, and to my surprise I did not
only find reference works in Bokmål and Nynorsk, but also (still) in
Riksmål:
- *Bokmål*sordboka, 3. utgave, 2005, med rettskrivsendringer, Oslo,
Kunnskapsforlaget, ISBN 82-573-1629-6, xvii + 1218 pp., 398 NOK
- *Nynorsk* Ordlista med skrivereglar, 7. utgåve, 2005, Oslo,
Kunnskapsforlaget, ISBN 82-573-1625-3, 488 pp, 159 NOK
- *Riksmål*sordlisten, 6. utgave, 1994, Oslo, Riksmålsforbundet, ISBN
82-504-2179-5, 233 pp (just listing words over 4 cols.:page), 100 NOK
- Hjalmar Falk, Alf Torp, Etymologisk Ordbog over det Norske og det Danske
sprog, 2006, Bjørn Ringstrøms Antikvariat, facsimile of a 1903-06 edition,
ISBN 82-905-2016-6, iv + 1089 pp, NOK 390
- Kjell Venås, Norsk grammatikk - Nynorsk, 1990, Oslo, Universitetsforlaget,
ISBN 82-00-21066-9, 187 pp., NOK 448
- Finn-Erik Vinje, Norsk grammatikk, 2005, Oslo, Kunnskapsforlaget, ISBN
82-573-1459-5, 265 pp., NOK 349

In the latter p. 16 about *different versions of Bokmål*:
[...]Regjeringen har ikke behandlet saken (*moderat bokmål)*
Regjeringa har ikke behandla saka (*radikalt bokmål*)
Som man ser, ligger radikalt bokmål naermere [...] till nynorsk. I eksempet
er forskjellen mellom radikalt bokmål og nynorsk bare ikke/ikkje. Moderat
bokmål faller på sin side her helt sammen med riksmålsnormen
(Riksmålsordlisten)

So *a variety of standards* is not necessarily threathening the survival of
a language.

For decent bookshops in Oslo I would recommend:
1th choice: Norli, 20-24 Universitetsgata, www.norli.no
2d choice: Tanum, 37/41 Karl Johanst, www.tanum.no

Some references for Spitsbergen:
Guides I used for preparing my trip:
- Andreas Umbreit, Spitbergen, 3d edition, 2005, UK Bradt, USA Globe Pequot
Press, ISBN 1-84162-092-0, xvi + 288 pp.
- Gérard Bodineau, Spitzberg, L'archipel du Svalbard, 3e édition, 2002,
Paris, Guides Grand Nord, ISBN 2-913623-02-6, 160 pp.

Web pages
Governor (sysselman) of Svalbard: http://www.sysselmannen.svalbard.no/
Tourist board: http://www.svalbard.net/
One of the main tour organizers: http://www.spitsbergentravel.no/
airport: http://www.avinor.no/English/Airports/Svalbard_Airport/
The local newspaper: http://www.svalbardposten.no/
FAQs: http://www.svalbard.com/SvalbardFAQ.html
webcam: http://www.svalbard.com/infosvalbard.html
Longyearbyen: http://www.lokalstyre.no/Modules/Default.aspx
and: http://www.longyear.no/

For hiking off-road one has to have a gun (against polar bears). Winchesters
are for rent in the Svalbardbutikken. No license is required, just and ID.
One allways takes off one's shoes when entering hotel, tourist office,
private houses.. (but not in shops where one uses shopping trolleys).

Regards,
Roger

----------

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

Thanks a lot, Roger!  You do get around on business, don't you?

This would make such a cool article for "Travels", what with the Lowlands
focus and all!  I don't want to put you on a spot, but please think about
it.

Thanks again!

Reinhard/Ron
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lowlands-l/attachments/20070617/4ab0f7d9/attachment.htm>