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8/8/11 23:15"zweckentfremden" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "to divert sth. from its intended use"
German is so much more awesome >8D We have so many lovely words.
German is so much more awesome >8D We have so many lovely words.
I finally found the article again where I read about the word origin of "nightmare". It caught my eye because it is in a way very similar to the origin of the German word "Alptraum".
The origin of both words is folklore. People (both English and German) believed that nightmares were caused by evil spirits (incubi or succubi, an Alp/Alb) that sat on the sleeper´s chest (because you have a stifling feeling in your chest when you're having a nightmare). An incubus is a male monster and succubus the female version and both are known to evoke sexual feelings in their victims. (And they suck out their victims´ souls while seducing them. Soul for Sex.)
Now, Alp/Alb is gender neutral. And can be a more general word for evil spirits of this type. But the English equivalent uses "mare". Apart from my confusion about how you can make the mindjump from "female evil spirits who steals your soul via sex" to "mare", I'm wondering, why the female? Why did they not choose "stallion"? Where men more often haunted by nightmares? Were the people just being misogynistic again? (Probably.)
And I digressed. Because I just noticed the "mare" thing. I was mostly pleasantly surprised that both words have the same origin.
Pointless post is pointless.
The origin of both words is folklore. People (both English and German) believed that nightmares were caused by evil spirits (incubi or succubi, an Alp/Alb) that sat on the sleeper´s chest (because you have a stifling feeling in your chest when you're having a nightmare). An incubus is a male monster and succubus the female version and both are known to evoke sexual feelings in their victims. (And they suck out their victims´ souls while seducing them. Soul for Sex.)
Now, Alp/Alb is gender neutral. And can be a more general word for evil spirits of this type. But the English equivalent uses "mare". Apart from my confusion about how you can make the mindjump from "female evil spirits who steals your soul via sex" to "mare", I'm wondering, why the female? Why did they not choose "stallion"? Where men more often haunted by nightmares? Were the people just being misogynistic again? (Probably.)
And I digressed. Because I just noticed the "mare" thing. I was mostly pleasantly surprised that both words have the same origin.
Pointless post is pointless.
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First things first: per chance I found the Summarium Heinrici in the library and I looked up what kind of fish "lucius" was. He's a luce, or pike. As you can see, the English word even looks like the Middle Latin word. (It's hechit in Old High German.)
Now, on to the main topic. Old High German spells. I found three different spells that I would use for Fire Emblem as well as one blessing and one additional spell (I'm not too sure if I will ever use it).
( 1. Merseburger Zauberspruch II )
( 2. Wiener Pferdesegen )
( 3. Trierer Blutsegen )
( 4. Weingartner Reisesegen )
( 5. Pro Nessia )
Now, on to the main topic. Old High German spells. I found three different spells that I would use for Fire Emblem as well as one blessing and one additional spell (I'm not too sure if I will ever use it).
( 1. Merseburger Zauberspruch II )
( 2. Wiener Pferdesegen )
( 3. Trierer Blutsegen )
( 4. Weingartner Reisesegen )
( 5. Pro Nessia )
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28/10/10 11:12I like language. And I love the history of a language. That's why I'm taking a class on the history of the German language. Now there was this little discussion on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sacae ´s journal about the languages in Elibe. And, well, I loved that. Now I found a book about the German language and it has this wonderful short "explanation" about how a dialekt can "climb up the social ladder" to become the main language, in the case of FE the Common language. Even though sacae already made her decision, I still want to note that down here, because it's just extremely interesting.
So, this quote is from the philologist Max Weinreich. He said that (and I have to translated and slightly paraphrase it) a language is a dialect with an army. Why? Because many languages have a similiar development; there's a country with many, many dialects (Let's take Italy as an example. Every county had its own dialect and if they were lucky they could somehow understand their neighbour). Then one town (Rome) or one noble family (in France happened that) manages to become the ruler of the whole country. The town (Rome) or the town the noble family lives in becomes the cultural and political centre of the country. The language that is spoken by the residents of those towns gains prestige, becomes the language of poets, writers, scholars, will now be used as the standard language by everybody who thinks that he is someone and not just a pleb. The vocabular will grow, someone will write a manual about the grammar. Now the standard language has become the language and most people try to speak it. (Latin is now all over the place and it was just the Roman dialect at first!) The other dialects still exist in their respective counties, but their importance disappears. They are no longer on the same level as the standard language. There are also other examples; In France, the language spoken in the area of Paris became the standard. The Queen´s English was originally just a southern dialect.
Now, that is of course not the only way to develop a standard language. German, for example, did not develop like that (and it makes me love my language even more. It's so beautifully complicated <3). Due to the Holy Roman Empire the German part was never unified enough to feel as one country. The difficulties the HRE had, were that it tried to rule over two (or even three countries if you count Switzerland/Austria as well, but that's a bit more difficult) countries and to keep them together somehow. Italy struggled against the German emperors and the German princes didn't want a "Zentralstaat" (a country with only one gouvernment; there's no translation for that or I just didn't see it). They didn't want to lose the reign over their county (Gotta love our small states). So there was no chance for the emperor to establish a cultural centre. That meant that the standard language couldn't develop like the others. So the Germans continued to speak their own dialects up to the end of the 18th century, when it finally seemed like the dialects had mixed a bit and you could finally understand your neighbours. So the language develop somehow on its own without people acitvely trying to establish a standard language. (It's so stubborn =3= )
And now I have a few quotes to demonstrate this state of the German language and the difficulties that came with the many dialects, mainly because they're awesome and contemporary. Even people back then noticed that it sucked.
- 1578; Between the dialects there was "ein solcher unterscheidt / das offtmal ein Deutscher den anderen nicht verstehet" (such a difference that often a German couldn't understand the other [German])
- Martin Luther; "Deutschland hat mancherley Dialectos, Art zu reden, also, daß die Leute in den 30 Meilen Weges einander nicht wol können verstehen." (Germany has many dialects, a way to speak, so, that the people living 30 miles from each other can't understand each other [I had to translate the last clause a bit more freely])
On the other hand, the contemporary Germans didn't really have a motivation to change that. They were a proud bunch; they were proud of their language, their ancestry and their "tribe" (Franken, Thüringer, Sachsen, etc.). They didn't want to lose their individuality.
So, you have at least two different ways to develop a language. There are probably more, but I don't know any more now. Maybe I'll find something else, but that's all for now. Hopefully you find that as interesting as I did. And if something is unclear, please ask. I feel that my grammar may be off. I feel it in my bones. Or I'm just cold.
sacae ´s journal about the languages in Elibe. And, well, I loved that. Now I found a book about the German language and it has this wonderful short "explanation" about how a dialekt can "climb up the social ladder" to become the main language, in the case of FE the Common language. Even though sacae already made her decision, I still want to note that down here, because it's just extremely interesting.So, this quote is from the philologist Max Weinreich. He said that (and I have to translated and slightly paraphrase it) a language is a dialect with an army. Why? Because many languages have a similiar development; there's a country with many, many dialects (Let's take Italy as an example. Every county had its own dialect and if they were lucky they could somehow understand their neighbour). Then one town (Rome) or one noble family (in France happened that) manages to become the ruler of the whole country. The town (Rome) or the town the noble family lives in becomes the cultural and political centre of the country. The language that is spoken by the residents of those towns gains prestige, becomes the language of poets, writers, scholars, will now be used as the standard language by everybody who thinks that he is someone and not just a pleb. The vocabular will grow, someone will write a manual about the grammar. Now the standard language has become the language and most people try to speak it. (Latin is now all over the place and it was just the Roman dialect at first!) The other dialects still exist in their respective counties, but their importance disappears. They are no longer on the same level as the standard language. There are also other examples; In France, the language spoken in the area of Paris became the standard. The Queen´s English was originally just a southern dialect.
Now, that is of course not the only way to develop a standard language. German, for example, did not develop like that (and it makes me love my language even more. It's so beautifully complicated <3). Due to the Holy Roman Empire the German part was never unified enough to feel as one country. The difficulties the HRE had, were that it tried to rule over two (or even three countries if you count Switzerland/Austria as well, but that's a bit more difficult) countries and to keep them together somehow. Italy struggled against the German emperors and the German princes didn't want a "Zentralstaat" (a country with only one gouvernment; there's no translation for that or I just didn't see it). They didn't want to lose the reign over their county (Gotta love our small states). So there was no chance for the emperor to establish a cultural centre. That meant that the standard language couldn't develop like the others. So the Germans continued to speak their own dialects up to the end of the 18th century, when it finally seemed like the dialects had mixed a bit and you could finally understand your neighbours. So the language develop somehow on its own without people acitvely trying to establish a standard language. (It's so stubborn =3= )
And now I have a few quotes to demonstrate this state of the German language and the difficulties that came with the many dialects, mainly because they're awesome and contemporary. Even people back then noticed that it sucked.
- 1578; Between the dialects there was "ein solcher unterscheidt / das offtmal ein Deutscher den anderen nicht verstehet" (such a difference that often a German couldn't understand the other [German])
- Martin Luther; "Deutschland hat mancherley Dialectos, Art zu reden, also, daß die Leute in den 30 Meilen Weges einander nicht wol können verstehen." (Germany has many dialects, a way to speak, so, that the people living 30 miles from each other can't understand each other [I had to translate the last clause a bit more freely])
On the other hand, the contemporary Germans didn't really have a motivation to change that. They were a proud bunch; they were proud of their language, their ancestry and their "tribe" (Franken, Thüringer, Sachsen, etc.). They didn't want to lose their individuality.
So, you have at least two different ways to develop a language. There are probably more, but I don't know any more now. Maybe I'll find something else, but that's all for now. Hopefully you find that as interesting as I did. And if something is unclear, please ask. I feel that my grammar may be off. I feel it in my bones. Or I'm just cold.
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