Linguistics

[Nimphy]

You German speakers are crazy! Greet God! Greetings that approve of slavery! Wishing people to go bald (as in bis bald)!

[kjeks]

You German speakers are crazy! Greet God! Greetings that approve of slavery! Wishing people to go bald (as in bis bald)!

Nooooooo. Nobody wishes anyone to be bald. Maybe sometimes. If they have too much hairspray in their hair that it stings your nose sitting besides them...

[JoB]

You German speakers are crazy! Greet God! Greetings that approve of slavery! Wishing people to go bald (as in bis bald)!

You forgot the probably most common nation-wide, "Mahlzeit!"

(Which occasionally prompts me to ask which color I'm supposed to paint time with.)

[kjeks]

You forgot the probably most common nation-wide, "Mahlzeit!"

(Which occasionally prompts me to ask which color I'm supposed to paint time with.)

Mahlzeit is in fact a quite interesting word, though it sounds like the German word for painting (malen) it refers to milling (which you would need to do with certain ingredients before you can use them for painting). So "Mahl-Zeit" is the time to mill your food, or, as teeth are involved, to grind everything that comes between your teeth. Because it works like the regular millstone.

And I am sure JoB might no more about the words ancestries.

[Fen Shen]

I always thought "Mahlzeit" refers to the time you eat (=have your meal). Because the only occasion when I'd use it is during lunch break and such.

[Fimbulvarg]

I always thought "Mahlzeit" refers to the time you eat (=have your meal). Because the only occasion when I'd use it is during lunch break and such.

We actually have practically the same word, "måltid", "mål"+time. Mål otherwise means goal or language so I assume it's a loanword from German.

[kjeks]

I always thought "Mahlzeit" refers to the time you eat (=have your meal). Because the only occasion when I'd use it is during lunch break and such.

And while you have your meal you mill your food between your teeth .

[JoB]

I always thought "Mahlzeit" refers to the time you eat (=have your meal). Because the only occasion when I'd use it is during lunch break and such.

"Mahl", the direct equivalent of "meal", is supposedly derived from "Mal" ("time" as in point in time, occasion, countable events a la "three times"); I guess that makes "Mahlzeit" a pleonasm.

"mahlen" is apparently a lot older, appearing in the 9th century ("Mahl" in the 13th), though with an entirely different conjugation back then.

[Solovei]

"Mahl", the direct equivalent of "meal", is supposedly derived from "Mal" ("time" as in point in time, occasion, countable events a la "three times"); I guess that makes "Mahlzeit" a pleonasm.

"mahlen" is apparently a lot older, appearing in the 9th century ("Mahl" in the 13th), though with an entirely different conjugation back then.

I wonder if it's related to the Swedish "måltid" at all...

[Petra]

What I really want to talk about is Lalli: why is he called Lalli ?
I love the name (it sounds great, phonetically speaking), but it's extremely uncommon in Finland, and it's very much tied to Lalli, a character of Finnish folklore that has a pretty gruesome story (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalli).  Depending on the versions, Lalli can be considered as some kind of freedom fighter (as wikipedia says), as a revolutionary / folk hero / generally positive figure.  But in (mainly medieval) Christian versions, he is an extremely negative character.  Depending on which version of the story you've been exposed to (or how you interpret it), the name Lalli can evoke either good feelings or violent, gruesome and generally horrible feelings.

So, the question is: why did Minna call Lalli Lalli, as opposed to many other very pretty, old, and traditional Finnish names ?  What links could there possibly be between Lalli the cat night scout, and Lalli the peasant murderer / revolutionary hero ?  Or, am I just fishing, and there is no link at all... the name just sounds nice.  (But I really can't see why Minna would name her character with such a heavily meaningful and rare name if not for a reason ?!)

If you have any other comments about the Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Danish names of the characters, please, I want to know !

[Hrollo]

Swedish "tid" is the 'cognate' word to German "zeit"; they correspond to English "tide".

Initial z- in German generally corresponds to t- in the other Germanic languages.

tooth—Zand
to—zu
two—zwei
ten—zehn
tale—Zahl
tear—zerren
teach—zeigen
…
(note that the meanings have sometimes drifted, so these words, although they share an etymology, are not always the exact translation of each other)

[P__]

Lalli, a character of Finnish folklore that has a pretty gruesome story.

as for the rarity of the name, I suppose that when the rash survivors picked the old religion, the folkloric names grew in popularity, while less "nordic" names fell in disuse (eg: no more "Michaels")

an for the background of that other Lalli, if I may extrapolate a bit (actually, an awful lot) from what little info is on the english wikipedia: he killed a bishop for being self-serving. So it's basically the One God VS (I suppose) the Old Gods... now in SSSS, the followers of the ancient religion are relatively well-off, while the Christian are basically dead. (here is where I shoot blindfolded at a distant target) We could therefore see the old Gods as salvation, while Christianity would be linked to the rash disease. And here comes Lalli, famous for killing representatives of the Church, about to lay waste on the Beasts, Trolls and Giants
So in fact that names tells us that [spoiler alert: the ending of SSSS] the team (at least, their scout) will go to the root of the Rash problem and cut its head (we were told they'd travel far)

[P__]

And here comes Lalli, famous for killing representatives of the Church, about to lay waste on the Beasts, Trolls and Giants

this makes perfect sense, and the logic of the assumptions is undeniable.

[FrogEater]

It's certainly both too early and definitely off-topic, but I'm curious to see what Minna has prepared about the religion issue. Because (slightly back to topic) Emil is a christian name.

[ruth]

Swedish "tid" is the 'cognate' word to German "zeit"; they correspond to English "tide".

Initial z- in German generally corresponds to t- in the other Germanic languages.

but it gets even cooler!

somehow, swedish (and english) t often shows up in place of german d (or z, like you said), but on the other hand, swedish (and english) d occurs in many places where german has t! just a couple of examples...

:sweden: dotter — :germany: tochter — :uk: daughter
:sweden: dyr — :germany: teuer — :uk: expensive (cognate: dear)
:sweden: dröm — :germany: Traum — :uk: dream
:sweden: djävul — :germany: Teufel — :uk: devil
:sweden: djup — :germany: tief — :uk: deep
:sweden: djur — :germany: Tier — :uk: animal (cognate: deer)
:sweden: dricka — :germany: trinken — :uk: drink

and then on the other hand we have the exact opposite happening, with swedish t and english th showing up when german has a d.

:sweden: tre — :germany: drei — :uk: three
:sweden: betyda — :germany: bedeuten — :uk: signify (this one's doubled up, with t/d each swapped for each other!)
:sweden: tack — :germany: Danke — :uk: thanks
:sweden: Tyskland — :germany: Deutschland — :uk: germany (but cognate dutch bucks the pattern)
:sweden: tumme — :germany: Daumen — :uk: thumb
:sweden: tänka/tycka — :germany: denken — :uk: think
:sweden: ting — :germany: Ding — :uk: thing

and so on.