Re: CHAT: Frisian

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jan van Steenbergen" <ijzeren_jan@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 12:54 PM
Subject: Re: CHAT: Frisian


> --- Roberto Suarez Soto wrote:
>
> >         Sorry to play the fool, but ... what language is frisian? I've
> > heard of it sometimes, but it seemed to me like a dead language, like
> > latin :-m Am I very wrong?
>
> Dead? Not at all, Frisian is just a small language, spoken mainly in
Friesland
> (a Northern province of the Netherlands). The regions where the language
is
> spoken stretches from the IJsselmeer through Northwest Germany to the
Danish
> border. Once upon a time in the past Frisian existed also in Denmark, but
AFAIK
> that part is extinct now.
>
> As John wrote, Friesland is officially bilingual. "Our" West Frisian is
> perfectly standardized, both as a written and a spoken language. I know
very
> little about the other dialects (known as East Frisian and North Frisian),
all
> I can say is that they are vastly outnumbered by West Frisian.
>
> Languages or dialects? That's always a difficult point. Everybody agrees
that
> Dutch is one language, notwithstanding the fact that it has a huge number
of
> mutually completely ununderstandable dialects. But Holland has a long
history
> of statehood, centralization and standardization, a feature that the
Frisians,
> being the speakers of a minority language scattered over (traditionally)
three
> countries, lack completely.
> Therefore, I would prefer to describe Frisian as one language, subdivided
into
> three groups of dialects.
>
> Linguistically, Frisian is closest to Anglo-Saxon, but West Frisian
orthography
> leans as heavily on Dutch orthography as my Wenedyk leans on Polish.
>
> Frisian is essentially Old English spoken and written by a Dutchman who
doesn't
> even know his own language.
>
> Jan

And, for the Curious...a Pater Noster in Frisian:

Frysk:

Us Heit yn 'e himel,
lit jo namme hillige wurde,
lit jo keninkryk komme,
Lit jo wil dien wurde
op ierde likegoed as yn 'e himel.
Jou ús hjoed ús deistich brea
en ferjou ús ús skulden
sa't wy ús skuldners ek ferjûn hawwe;
en lit ús net yn fersiking komme,
mar ferlos ús fan 'e kweade;
Amen.

And, for Comparison, Old English and dutch:

Eald Englisc:

Fæder ure, þu þe eart on heofonum:
Si þin nama gehalgod
Tobecume þin rice
Geweorþe þin willa
on eorþan swaswa on heofonum.
Urne dæghwamlican hlaf sielle us to dæge
And forgief us ure gyltas
swaswa we forgiefaþ urum gyltendum
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge,
ac alies us of yfele,
Amen.

Nederlands:

Onze Vader,
die in de hemelen zijt,
geheiligd zij Uw naam.
Uw rijk kome,
Uw wil geschiede op aarde als in de hemel.
Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood,
en vergeef ons onze schulden,
gelijk ook wij vergeven aan onze schuldenaren.
En leid ons niet in bekoring,
maar verlos ons van het kwade
Amen.

Is it just me, or does it seem that frisian is mor Dutch-esque...

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