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Language
Sayings
From Chris Burkart
Mom had a couple of sayings that she translated
for me, as she used to say them in German:
"Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb"
(if I was going to get into trouble, I might as well go for the
gusto, because small or big crime, I would be in trouble either
way).
"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's
(pig's) ear."
From David Scheid
"Wherever you may be, let your Wind blow free!"
This was reportedly said by my father's maternal
grandmother - Don't know the German version - it was said in dialect.
From Vera Beljakova-Miller
I know both sayings, but I learnt them in english
schools (not in German school or Russian course), so that means
that either they are English sayings or international sayings.
"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's
ear" I believe comes from Shakespeare. Russians are keen on
Shakespeare and adopt many saying from him, then maybe the Germans
heard it and translated it - then retranslated it back into english
thinking they are Russian or German sayings.
Here we need the input of a language professor.
Words of Endearment, Frustration & Reprimand
From Gary Less
Now that I am on a Schafkopf kick (German card game),
it reminded me of the fact that I was called that a number of times
by my father whenever I did something dumb or stupid as a kid. There
were a number of other names that would slip out on other occasions
of this type. For example:
Words of reprimand:
du schlamassel - I never was sure what this meant,
the German dictionary says it means "mess"
du schameel (phonetic spelling) - I didn't know what this meant
either but it came across as not very complimentary. I could not
find it in the German dictionary. Perhaps someone can define it.
du schafkopf - sheeps head
du kleina schlingel - This was one of my Mom's favorite expressions,
it means "you little rascal".
Words of frustration:
I hope I am not offending someone but both Ma and
Pa (that is what we called them) had words of frustration when something
didn't go their way. The English translation doesn't make much sense.
henne wetter - hen weather
donner wetter - thunder weather
drei tausend - three thousand
On occasion stronger words were used by Pa, but I won't repeat them
here for fear of censorship.
Words of endearment:
schatz - darling or treasure
liebling - darling
These words were heard a lot when Pa was talking to Ma, which to
me is an indication that they truly loved each other.
Please don't get me wrong, both of my parents were
kind loving people that thought the world of their kids. They both
immigrated from the Volhynia area and were hard working farmers
with six children to raise during the depression years in Nebraska.
Pa's mother died when he was an infant. His father
soon remarried and he was raised by a strict and cruel stepmother.
It was said that she kept the food locked away in the pantry from
the children. The oldest brother was so angry at that lock that
he took a knife and cut it away so the smaller children could get
proper food to eat. Pa always told us that he would never treat
his children the way that his stepmother treated him and he never
did. The times we were called a schlamassel or a schlameel, we probably
deserved it.
From Valerie Renner Ingram
As we were growing up, German was the language of
the house. If a German relative came over to visit, and mom offered
them something to eat, and they said no...she would reply (phonetic
spelling here) "lek katz im aush" (which meant, go lick
a cat's butt). Everyone always laughed at her sense of humor...
As we kids got older and UNDERSTOOD what she was
saying, we would think of answers to use against this remark of
hers. About 7 years ago, her sister made her first trip to the United
States from Germany for a visit. We had just returned from picking
up "Aunt Dora" from the airport, and mom was running around
trying to make her feel welcome. Aunt Dora knew that none of us
grown children spoke alot of German anymore, but that we could easily
understand it. Mom asked if I wanted to stay and eat dinner with
them, and I replied "No"....her response of "lec
katz im aush" followed and Aunt Dora was stunned! Before I
could stop myself I had answered "aw...hund's furtze"...(oh,
dog's farts).
My poor aunt just about fell out of her chair!....She
came over to me and said "NO, no, no,.....my last name is Holtzfurtner...not
hund's furtze!!!!" She thought I was trying to pronounce her
last name!!!
Kinship Terms
From Roland M. Wagner
As I read old letters in the newspapers I often
find that kinship terms were used when addressing or referring to
someone; in some cases the translation of these terms is not obvious.
In the German colonies in Russia dialect patterns in local terminology
sometimes differed from that which is shown in standard German dictionaries
today.
Most of the variations in kinship terminology seem
to focus on the collateral lines -- aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces,
nephews.
Standard dictionaries list the following terms for
"cousin" -- der Vetter, der Cousin (die Cousine), and
die Base. "Uncle" is shown as der Onkel, and "aunt"
as die Tante.
However, in my dad's dialect (from Rastadt and Muenchen
in the Beresan), he always referred to his uncles as "Vetter"
(pronounced like "Fedda"), and aunts as "Base."
Cousins were collectively referred to as "Cousine," or
individually by gender as "Vetterle" (a male cousin, lit.
a "little uncle"), or "Baesle" (a female cousin,
lit. a "little aunt").
I am curious if others on this list remember how
kinship terms were used in their families. What variations do you
recall?
From Don Wolf
The Schwabe community in N. Dak. where I grew up
used both Tante and Boss as terms for aunts. My mother always referred
to her sisters as my Tantes, but referred to her aunts as Boss.
Uncles were Onkel. I do not remember to terms for cousins.
From Valerie Renner Ingram
My father was from Speier, and my mother from Rumania...both
of them referred to not only Uncles and Aunts in these terms, but
male friends that they had were referred to as "Vetter"
Hannes...or whatever his name was, and "Base" Anna....
It was very confusing to us as we were growing up
because we never really knew who was REALLY related to us, and who
was just a friend of the family!!
From Allyn Brosz
I grew up in Hutchinson County in southeastern South
Dakota. My dad's side of the family were all Schwobs (i.e., Swabians)
from Bessarabia. My mom's side of the family were all Glueckstalers
from Kassel and Neudorf. My Dad used "Onkel" and "Tante"
for his direct aunts and uncles. It seems to me it was always appended
at the end of the name, making it one word as in "Jakobonkel"
and "Emmatante," rather than Onkel Jakob and Tante Emma.
My Dad did also use "Baesle" for his parents' cousins.
I remember my Mom using "Vetter" and "Bas" as
appellations for her uncles, again appended at the end of their
names (e.g., Stefanvetter and Emiliebas).
From Sean McGinnis
The only one of which I am aware is "Wes"
used at the end of an woman's name to denote "Aunt." Thus:
Annawes was Aunt Anna etc. (Pronouced of course: Annaves). Sounds
similar to your "Base" actually.
This would be the Katharinenstadt dialect, if there
is such a thing.
From Roland M. Wagner
Don, Valerie, Allyn, and Sean, vielen Dank for sharing
what you remember about kinship terms used in your families.
There are some interesting variations that translators
should be aware of, esp. involving terms for aunts, uncles, and
cousins. "Vetter" can mean either "uncle" or
"cousin" (and, as Valerie pointed out, it was even applied
to friends in some cases). Aunts were referred to either as "Tante"
or "Base" ("Wes" is an obvious variant).
Tim Kloberdanz gives a good overview in his master's
thesis, which I am supplementing a bit:
Standard German German-Russian Variants
Uncle Onkel Vetter; Onkel
Aunt Tante Base; Wees; Weesja; Dande
Male Cousin Cousin; Vetter Halbbruder; Vetterle
Female Cousin Cousine; Base Halbschwester; Baesle
Terminology for other relatives (nieces, nephews, siblings, etc.)
seems to have been pretty standard in the German colonies, except
for affinals (in-laws).
Two of you mentioned an interesting pattern of putting
the terms at the end of the name -- "Annawes," "Emmatante,"
etc. This differs from the way it was done in my family, where terms
were always used before the name -- e.g., aunt Magdalena was "Bas
Machdlena." Valerie also mentioned that in her family, they
had "Vetter Hannes," "Base Anna," etc. Valerie's
family came from Speier, and my grandfolks also came from the Beresan
colonies, so perhaps that was the predominant pattern in that area.
I recall that it was customary when referring to
someone, to put his surname or kin term first, preceded by an article
-- e.g., "uncle Ludwig" would be "d' Vedda Ludwig";
my grandfather Adam Wagner was "d' Wachna Adam."
Any other memories about variants in linguistic patterns
would be appreciated.
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