Re: OT: Bargoens (Was: Re: OT: Programmed/Hand made music (was: Random word generators (was Re: Worthwhile Engelang Goal)))

First of all, sorry for the messy layout of the previous post -
it got mangled by the webmailer.

Secondly, it seems that my ISP's brand-new-and-improved webmailer adds
a Reply-To-header where it shouldn't. Sorry for that. That'll be the
last time I'm using the webmailer.

I wrote:

 > > Reading that great word "gabber" reminds me of the
 > > Bargoens origin of the word. (How well-known is
 > > Bargoens on this list? Bargoens (/bAR\'Xuns/) is a
 > > Dutch thieves' cant which imported a lot of words
 > > from Hebrew and Yiddish. Many words from Bargoens
 > > are nowadays used in slang Dutch)
 > >
 > > I greatly enjoy Bargoens and googling around, came
 > > across the following link, which I wanted to share:
 > >
 > > http://homepage.mac.com/schuffelen/duhebrew.html
 > >
 > > René

Henrik Theiling replied:

 > Hi!
 >
 > "ruittenb@tiscali.nl" <ruittenb@...> writes:
 >
 > > http://homepage.mac.com/schuffelen/duhebrew.html
 >
 > Interesting list, but some of the entries seem highly improbable to
 > me, actually.  Could anyone comment on how this would be possible?
 >
 >    blauw        < be-lo       ???
 >    daar ga je   < LeChayim    ???
 >
 > **Henrik


As for "blauw", there is a note about that near the bottom of the page:

 > Some word formation was influenced by soundalike Dutch words, like
 > blauw (drunk), reinforced by the blue (Du. blauw) color of the cheap
 > fuel alcohol.

Why do you think "daar ga je" is unlikely? Phonetically it is close to
the original; and it is a funny thing to say to someone, which could
explain the change.

Personally I'm more surprized by some of the shifts in meaning, like:
gajes (bad people) < gajies (military unit). Must have to do with the
fact that this was a thieves' cant.



I love Bargoens - I remember how funny it was to hear that the pointing
stick used for reading the Torah scroll (ending in a hand) is called a
"yad" - the word "jat" /jAt/ being Dutch slang for "hand" :)

Or to hear that the word "tof" ("cool", "neat") is the same word as used
in the book Genesis, where it says "God looked at the light and saw that
it was good (apparently "toob/tauw")." :)

De mazzel,
René

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