Re: Zelandish (was: 2nd pers. pron. for God)

 --- Christophe wrote:

> > >Yes, I have to wonder where I get these ideas from!
> >
> > What about German im = in dem, am = an dem, vom = von dem, auf's = auf
> > das?
>
> Forgot those ones! IIRC there's also ins=in das, ...
And "beim" (< bei dem), "zum" (< zu dem), "zur" (< zu der, the only example I
can remember with the female article).

> ... and I seem to remember that Old Dutch had them too (but I may be wrong).
Yes, "ten" (< te den) and "ter" (< ter der). I wouldn't call that "Old Dutch",
though; it would me more appropriate to call it "Pre-WWII Dutch". In 1937 (±
one year) the dative endings were abolished, and they survived only in some
common expressions.
Nowadays those forms are still used, but often improperly, since most people
don't know whether a word is masculine or feminine (indeed, you often need a
dictionary for that; sometimes German can be helpful).

> Still, they are quite rare, and except German and maye Old Dutch I don't know
> if other Germanic languages have them.
Lëtzebuergësch, if you want to consider it a language, has a lot of them, also
in cases where German doesn't. For example "mam" (< mët dem).

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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