LINGUIST List 6.821

Sat Jun 17 1995

Disc: Syldavian

Editor for this issue: Helen Dry <hdryemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. Jacques Guy, Re: 6.790, Varia: Possessives, Syldavian, Etymogical Dictio
2. , Re: 6.775, Syldavian Tutorial

Message 1: Re: 6.790, Varia: Possessives, Syldavian, Etymogical Dictio

I never expected that my silly "le syldave sans peine" would have
elicited so many responses.

Five Belgian readers e-mailed me that Syldavian was in fact
Brusselaar camouflaged under a Slavic orthography, and that
"Eih bennek, eih blavek" really was "hier ben ik, hier blijf
ik" which even my nearly non-existent Dutch let me immediately
understand: "here I am, here I stay". Herge, your red
herring of "qui s'y frotte s'y pique" had led me into
thinking that most of this Syldavian was nothing but
gibberish! I was persuaded that it was a mixture of German,
with a bit of Russian (niet) and plenty of made-up words.

One correspondant took my astonishment to new heights:
Arumbaya (see "L'oreille cassee") is also Brusselaar!

Alas, try as I may, even armed with this key, I could still
make neither head nor tail of Arumbaya. A few words, of
course (khapouth for instance), but I could not translate
a single sentence. Except perhaps: Tintin zouka da pikuri
which I think might be "Tintin zoekt de Pikeurs" an allusion
to "Les cigares du Pharaon"????

Message 2: Re: 6.775, Syldavian Tutorial

Dear Syldavian fans:
This fascination for Syldavian is all good and well, but let's not forget
the only serious article (to my knowledge) about the origins of Syldavian.
Har Brok, 1975. Is Syldavisch Slavisch? Taal en Tongval 27.14-18.
Written in Dutch. It demonstrates that Syldavian is really disguised
Brussels Flemish. The same is true of Arumbaya, and of the South
American language spoken by natives in Tintin and the Picaros, not
mentioned in Brok's article. Two examples from Tintin and the Picaros:
mo preuf mo niki: literally transalated in Standard Dutch: maar
proef maar een keer; na goen me ne gang: literally translated in
Standard Dutch: nu gaan we een gang.
As you can see, you miss out on a lot while reading Tintin if you don't
have at least a passive knowledge of the Flemish dialect of Brussels.

Willem J. de Reuse
(My grandparents were fluent speakers of dialects closely related to
Syldavian!)