#luxembourgish

[yvanspijk]

Church & kyrie

The word church is closely related to the name of the prayer Kyrie eleison. This name comes from Ancient Greek kȳrie, eléēson, which means 'Lord, have mercy'. It contains the vocative case of kȳrios (Lord). The derivative kȳri(a)kón, which meant 'house of the Lord', was borrowed into West Germanic as *kirikā around the fourth century AD. This word became church, German Kirche, Dutch kerk, Swedish kyrka, and Scots kirk, among many others. Click the infographic to see more.

Next week we'll delve into the history of the Romance words for 'church', such as French église and Portuguese igreja. These also come from Ancient Greek, but their etymology is entirely different.

People who are subscribed to tier 2 can download an audio file with the recordings of the reconstructed pronunciations of the historical forms in the infographic here.

[casualist-tendency]

[la-belle-histoire]

Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide of Luxembourg, 1910s.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Château d'Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Luxembourgish vintage postcard

[majestativa]

L’encre brûle […] et trouble les éléments en équilibre.

(Ink burns […] and disturbs the equilibrium of elements.)

— Nathalie Ronvaux, “Avant de rejoindre”

[thistlelearns]

she will always be my number one study friend <3

[best-non-english-word-torunament]

Round one: Toktok vs Bettseechesch

Toktok (Bislama)

Unable to find IPA

Translation: Speak

Bislama is an English-based creole with around 14 200 speakers. It is spoken in Vanuatu, where it’s the national language and used as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of the 110 living languages. Bislama emerged in the late 1800s due to the practice of “blackbirding”, aka deceiving or kidnapping Pacific Islanders and taking them to work as indentured labourers on plantations, mainly in Australia and Fiji. Due to everyone speaking different languages, a pidgin emerged that later became a creole. This language was taken to Vanuatu when labourers returned and spread because it could be used as a lingua franca. Most of the vocabulary is English-based with some French, but the grammar is typical of local languages.

Motivation: I literally just think it’s cool. In Bislama there aren’t a lot of specific words because, of course, Vanuatu is the most language dense area in the world so there’s not much room for the native language to be that elaborate, but I thought I’d submit this cute little word anyways because <3

Bettseechesch (Luxembourgish)

[ˈbætˌzeːχeʃ]

Translation: Dandelion (literally it means "bed wetter" because dandelions have a diuretic effect, it's also called Pissblumm, which literally means piss flower)

Luxembourgish is an Indo-European language belonging to the Germanic branch, spoken by half a million people, most of them in Luxembourg. It is part of the Continental West Germanic dialect continuum, but also influenced by French.

Motivation: French, Dutch, German, Italian all have a similar name about pissing the bed for this plant and that's just the ones I'm aware of, I'm sure there's more. It's funny to me that apparently so many people wet their beds after eating dandelions that people decided that that's what this plant should be called lol Plus look at it, it's a bonkers word to look at!

[mable-stitchpunk]

Do you speak any other languages?

Alas, no. I've tried to learn Spanish numerous times, to no success. I also tried to learn Luxembourgish. I learned a few phrases, but it's not exactly a language I have a chance to use. XD

[yvanspijk]

Butter from the Greeks

Butter has the same origin as French beurre but unlike numerous English words, it wasn't borrowed from French. Instead, it was inherited from a West Germanic borrowing of the Latin word that also became French beurre. This Latin word itself came from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron), literally 'cow cheese'. Click the infographic to learn more.

[casualist-tendency]

[letzebuergerblodsinn]

Blödsinn words #7

Lëtzebuergesch: Paangech

Brain: I'm having a pang (pain) somewhere right now.

Meaning: Crepe. It's a effing pancake. Eff my life.

...

[postcard-from-the-past]

View of Luxembourg

Luxembourgish vintage postcard

[majestativa]

Nos chairs s’unissent à perpétuelle demeure et défient  les anges.

(In their perpetual sojourn, our flesh, in unison, defies the angels.)

— Nathalie Ronvaux, “Des créatures”

[writtwithwitt]

Luxembourg Luxembourg, where sophistication meets confidence. Embark on an extraordinary journey through this charming nation, filled with tales of history, culture, and undeniable beauty

[best-non-english-word-torunament]

Round two: Bettseechesch vs Aftarem

(poll at the end)

Bettseechesch (Luxembourgish)

[ˈbætˌzeːχeʃ]

Translation: Dandelion (literally it means "bed wetter" because dandelions have a diuretic effect, it's also called Pissblumm, which literally means piss flower)

Luxembourgish is an Indo-European language belonging to the Germanic branch, spoken by half a million people, most of them in Luxembourg. It is part of the Continental West Germanic dialect continuum, but also influenced by French.

Motivation: French, German, Italian and some Dutch dialects all have a similar name about pissing the bed for this plant and that's just the ones I'm aware of, I'm sure there's more. It's funny to me that apparently so many people wet their beds after eating dandelions that people decided that that's what this plant should be called lol Plus look at it, it's a bonkers word to look at!

Aftarem (Bislama)

Unable to find IPA

Translation: Pursue, seek

Bislama is an English-based creole with around 14 200 speakers. It is spoken in Vanuatu, where it’s the national language and used as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of the 110 living languages. Bislama emerged in the late 1800s due to the practice of “blackbirding”, aka deceiving or kidnapping Pacific Islanders and taking them to work as indentured labourers on plantations, mainly in Australia and Fiji. Due to everyone speaking different languages, a pidgin emerged that later became a creole. This language was taken to Vanuatu when labourers returned and spread because it could be used as a lingua franca. Most of the vocabulary is English-based with some French, but the grammar is typical of local languages.

Motivation: Literally “after him”. Plus it’s fun to say

This is the last poll of round two! Expect a pause, then I'll be back with round three

[kinsey3furry300]

one of my coworkers is a Norman French woman dating a Luxembourgish man, both living in the uk, and they bicker over whether france or the low countries has better french languageconventions, which lead to him uttering the amazing sentence: "Belgan French isn't a perfect language, but as that American song goes, we got 99 problems, but how we say 99 ain't one."