LL-L "Etymology" 2008.03.12 (02) [E/German]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 12 March 2008 - Volume 02
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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.03.11 (01) [E]

Beste Utz,

Du schreyvst:

"Genetisch
gesprochen, würden die meisten Wissenschaftler zustimmen, dass ein
Grulla dasselbe ist wie ein Black Pferd – mit einer Ausnahme. Grullas
haben letztendlich ein (heterozygot), und können zwei (homozygot),
dominante Dunfaktor-Allele haben, genannt das "D" Gen."

Tja- um *das* zu verstehen, fehlen mir doch einfach die 'höheren Weihen' der
Pferdezucht ;-)!

Allerbest und Dank!

Jonny Meibohm

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From: Fonken, Gael M. [foga0301 at stcloudstate.edu] <foga0301 at stcloudstate.edu
>
Subject: Is this LL-L "Etymology" ?

Ron and all,
    Congratulations on the award. I too am glad to see such good basic-level
news come in amidst so much focus on superficial high-level things.  Okay,
but let's not stop this inclusive learning process…I'm not "there" yet.
 Here's a webpage that helped me to learn another basic thing from "you
all":  TEACH ME A "YIDISH VORT" <http://www.haruth.com/mw/teach.htm>.
I post it, because: Ron, you wrote "…and never mind the current political *
shlamazl*, things are happening in Belgium, often surprisingly so."
Well, so, I didn't know what (exactly) you were saying, so I finally found
its meaning here in this informative essay for beginners, but only after
watching a news clip or two that proclaimed things like:    "Baby caught in
train door, schlmiel! schlamazl!, and "the thing you need in order to become
a better shlamazl", and "I believe the term comes from somewhere near
Odessa, and means something like schlamazl", and "The two cases might be a
little different in who the schlemiel and schlamazl are", and "You can't be
a real nebbish if you are goyim, you'll only look like a schlamazl", and
"Some schlamazl? You couldn't give your mama a grandchild of her own? I'll
just dry up like an old termite mound, because that's what I am alone in my
old ...", "Can't you just see Moishe pointing his wand at Draco and say,
"Schlamazl!".         So, when I found this Yidish Vort cite, I finally
figured it out (I think)… But these others hints help too to see how such a
word *lives* out in the real world.  There are some other words in that
essay that you all might like to teach me.

Your Latino-friendly-LS-Pakistani Yankee at large,

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

Sorry I used an obscure Yiddish loanword, Gael.

Yiddish שלימזל ~ שלאמזל *shlamazl* ~ *shlemazl* ~ *shlimazl* appears to come
from Hebrew שלאמזל *shelo mazal* "that which is not fortune," thus
'misfortune', also 'messy or precarious situation'. In many contexts it's
the opposite of מזל *mazl* (< Hebrew *mazal*) '(good) fortune'. This is the
one you find in *mazltov* 'best wishes!'. In Yiddish and in Judeo-English *
shlamazl* ~ *shlemazl* ~ *shlimazl* may also denote a person, for instance
someone whom misfortune follows around, "a mess" of a person, a "walking
misfortune", etc.

In German, *Schlamassel* only denotes 'bad/messy situation', 'misfortune'.
While the opposite **Massel* either doesn't exist or is defunct (to my
knowledge),* a derived transitive verb does exist: *vermasseln* 'to spoil',
'to mess up' (schemes, programs, fun, ventures, etc.).

*Dutch does use *mazzel* in the sense of '(good) fortune' or 'luck'. You can
wish someone the best by saying *de mazzel* (where the first part of a
sentence has been dropped).

And, since you are "Ladino-friendly" (as am I), let me mention these words:

   - מזל* mazal *(*mazál*) used mostly in the neutral sense of 'fortune',
   also 'destiny' or 'fate' (= Yiddish מזל *mazl*)
   - מזלוסו / -א *mazaloso */* -a *(*mazalózo */ *-a*) 'fortunate',
   'lucky' (= Yiddish מזלדיק *mazldik*)
   - דיסמזלאדו / -א *desmazalado* /* -a *(*desmazaládo */ *-a*)
   'unfortunate', 'unlucky' (= Yiddish שלימזלניק *shlimazldik*)

As you can see, Semitic loans are freely and easily integrated into the
morphologies of Germanic and Romance respectively.

I hope this explained it.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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