Re: Kinky JM: Niggardly Swedish???

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

MMMM!  Something I can bite into!  Many thanks to Ingemar for the derivation of
the root "nig."  I can supply the facts about the suffix "ard."  This is a word
construction that always carries a pejoritave sense in English.  The sense is
dismissive, implying a fatal character flaw.  A stingy man: "niggard."  A timid
man: "coward."  (Yes, I'm saying "man."  Before you women get on my case, think
about what you're signing up for.)  An overly sentimental man: "dotard" (he
dotes, you see).  An alcoholic: "drunkard."  And, most tellingly, a citizen of
England's greatest rival state: "Spaniard."  That construction is used in
English for no other ethnic group, and, as far as I know,  is not echoed in any
other language.

Perhaps one of the Yiddishists on the list can give a talk about the Yiddish
dissmissive suffix, "-ekhts."



Ingemar Johansson wrote:

> Hi Cristian.
>
> Actually Simon is right. The English niggard(-ly) can be traced back to Old
> Nordic (not especially to Swedish, but to any of a number of Viking
> dialects). The old root is "nig", meaning "stingy" -- or "snaal" in Swedish
> (I skip the umlauts). We have the word in modern Swedish to (although not
> so frequent) as the adjective "njugg". However we have no corresponding
> noun (like the English noun "niggard"); here modern Swedish would use
> "snaaljaap" or something similar. So, there is -- as Simon states -- no
> racial connetion here.
>
> Best,
> Ingemar J.
>
> ----------
> > Från: Christian Hansson <christian (at) semikolon(dot)o(dot)se>
> > Till: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> > Ämne: RE: Kinky JM: Niggardly Swedish???
> > Datum:  den 30 januari 1999 20:53
> >
> >
> > >As far as the example of the word "niggardly", the word does not have
> ANY
> > >racial connection at all, It is (so I was informed) of Swedish origin.
> >
> > Simon, in this case you must have been misinformed. Swedish being my
> mother
> > tongue, I can tell there is no such word in Swedish. It dosn't even make
> > sense to me in English.
> >
> > Christian Hansson
> >
> >
>

--
Owen Davidson
Amherst  Mass
The Wholesale Klezmer Band

The Angel that presided o'er my birth
Said Little creature formd of Joy and Mirth
Go Love without the help of any King on Earth

Wm. Blake


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