Carrot & Raisin Salad, American Style

In the United States, carrot and raisin salad often is a dish more associated with the southern part of the country. I'm often an "overkill" guy on sauces, gravies and salad dressings; and what I mean is, I don't skimp on those things in recipes, but that's not for everyone, and some people just barely coat this salad with dressing.  

 

Ingredients (5 servings): 

 

2 1/2 cups shredded carrot

3/4 cup raisins (dark or golden or mixed)

1/3 cup pineapple bits 

2 tablespoons pineapple juice 

1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped green onion (mainly white part)

1/3 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat type is fine)

1/4 cup sour cream (or thick yogurt)

1 or 2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/3 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons sunflower seeds (1/2 teaspoon for each serving), garnish 

In a bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream (or yogurt), honey, lemon juice, pineapple juice and salt; mix together very well. Add the shredded carrot, raisins, pineapple bits and green onion; keep folding to coat all of the ingredients with the dressing. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Top each serving with some sunflower seeds.  

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Monkey-This has become a well known word for smaller primates in the English language, but its history is not easy; therefore, I'm going to work backwards. (NOTE: "Ape" had been the common word for primates, regardless of size, and it remains the word for larger primates to this day.^) The word "monkey" came into English circa 1530 as a noun. It is "likely" a borrowing from Low German "Moneke," the name of the son of Martin the Ape in "Reynard the Fox," a story from the Middle Ages. Low German likely got its form from a French diminutive, as French had "monne" (ape), likely borrowed from either Spanish "mona" or Old Italian "monna," with the later Italian diminutive being "monnicchio;" thus, "small ape, monkey." The story character name was rendered in Old French as "Monequin" and "Monnekin" 1300s (?). The source of these words is unknown, although some have suggested transliterated Arabic "maimum" (small ape), seemingly a euphemistic, indirect form actually meaning "highly favorable, advantageous, auspicious," as many Arabic speakers thought monkeys to be a bad omen and unlucky. The mid 1600s saw the verb develop from the noun, initially with the meaning, "to imitate," from a monkey's tendency to mimic actions of others, and later, with the imitations often being comic to humans; thus also, "to mock," and "to spend time with no particularly big purpose" ("monkey around"), but also, "to tease or taunt someone" ("to monkey with someone"), "to interfere with, to tamper with," after a monkey's curiosity to inspect, touch or bother things" ("to monkey with something").  

^ The history of the word "ape" is here at the end of the article at this link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2022/05/crab-louie.html

Weißwurst, Very Bavarian!

This is something I've periodically fixed over the years, and it's VERY Bavarian! This is a famous plate served in Bavaria before midday: Weißwurst (or "Weisswurst," literally, "white sausage"), pretzel (called "Brezn" in Bavarian dialect),* sweet mustard (süßer Senf) and wheat beer (Weizenbier). Before refrigeration became popular, Weißwurst was served before midday, as the sausages had no preservatives in them, so they needed to be eaten pretty quickly to keep them from spoiling. Similarly for the pretzels, which would begin to lose their soft inside texture after a time. So, the tradition began out of necessity, and it continues to this day.

Weißwursts (German plural: Weißwürste) are typically made with ground veal, some back bacon (German: Rückenspeck), and usually some ground cardamom, mace, onion and parsley, but each sausage maker has their own recipe, and ground pork is often used too, as well as some dried lemon peel and white or black pepper. Weißwursts are packed into natural hog casings and tend to be about 4 or 5 inches in length. They are prepared by placing the sausages in "hot water," where the water temperature remains at several degrees below boiling. The Weißwursts are kept in the hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes. The point made by the Bavarians is that the casing should not split. Why? So they can take the Weißwursts from the hot water, put them on a plate and then begin to remove the casing from the mildly seasoned meat filling. Ah, hey look, if you have any complaints, tell the Bavarians. So, Weißwursts are eaten with the skin removed and accompanied by sweet mustard, another Bavarian specialty. Also traditionally served with Weißwursts are "Brezn" (pronounced as if, "bray-tsn," with the "z" pronounced like the "ts" at the end of "hits"), which is the Bavarian dialect word for pretzel. Of course, you need something to wash this food down, and "Weizenbier" (pronounced as if, "vytsen-beeah"), also termed "Weißbier," is the drink. This is "wheat beer," and in Bavaria it generally is not filtered, so the beer remains a little cloudy, but there are filtered versions, which are, thus, clear.

For Americans, while nowhere near as common as "bratwurst," Weißwurst can sometimes be found in supermarkets or in specialty meat shops, or German/Austrian shops. Imported German sweet mustard can be found in supermarkets or ethnic stores, but there are some domestic products too.** The same with wheat beer, which is now commonly produced by the many local and regional breweries that have sprung up across the U.S. in the last couple of decades or so, but there are a number of German imports available too.   

* Standard German uses both "Brezel" and "Bretzel" as the spelling for the word for "pretzel."

** I'd guess about 35 years ago, I was returning from Germany and there was an American soldier (US Army) on the plane, a common occurrence in those times, as the U.S. had hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in West Germany. He was talking with many people and he was telling them how German mustard was simply the best. He was referring to standard mustard, not the sweet mustard type. He really lavished praise on German mustard, but I must say, I "like" mustard, I don't love it, so I can't really tell you if he was right (back then). I'm much more of a ketchup guy, which may cause some Germans, including my relatives, to faint, as they by far prefer mustard. But in those times, bratwurst was becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.  

WORD HISTORY:
Split-This word goes back to Indo European "splei/spley," which had the notion, "to separate from, to split off from." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "spaldanan," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "splatan" and "asplætan," with the vowel sound and the "L" sound transposed, and both forms meaning, "to split, to cut or break parts off from the whole." These forms seem to have then died out in English ("cleave," then spelled "cleven," was the verb used to mean "to split"), and it wasn't until the mid 1500s that a form of the word was reacquired from Low German "splitten," which had the same meaning as the former English words, while Dutch seems to have used their form of the word, also spelled "splitten," at least occasionally, in reference to a "ship breaking up;" that is, "splitting apart" (wooden in those times). Other relatives in the Germanic languages: German has both "spalten" (to split),and "spleißen" (to split, to splice; that is, "bonding two split pieces together"), Dutch has "splijten" (to split), and the related, "spouwen (once spelled "spouden," and meaning, "to break up, break apart, collapse"), West Frisian "spjalte" (split), Old Norse once had the related noun "spjald" (piece of word), and Danish and Norwegian "splitte" (split, divide) seem to have been borrowed from Low German. Swedish has "spjälka" (split, cleave), while Swedish "splittra" (to splinter, to shatter, to divide) "may" be a borrowing from Low German (much contact between the Swedes and Low German speakers in the north of Germany over the centuries).    

Cranberry & Chili Sauce Meatloaf

This was the first time I had ever tried this, but I had seen several recipes for a sauce or glaze of cranberries and chili sauce used with beef or pork, or a combination of the two. If you like "heat," you can add more cayenne pepper, but if you don't like "heat," unless you have super hot cayenne, 1/4 teaspoon won't bother you, but it adds just a little spiciness.

Ingredients:

For the meatloaf:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 package (12 to 16 ounces) ground pork sausage (sage type)
3 slices stale/dried white bread, torn or cut into small pieces (lightly toasted sandwich bread is fine)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
2 tablespoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried savory
3/4 cup plain bread crumbs

For the sauce:
1  14 ounce can whole cranberry sauce
1/2 cup Heinz chili sauce 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar (light or dark)
1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, to your taste 
2 tablespoons cornstarch + 3 tablespoons water

Begin heating oven to 350 F. For the meatloaf: In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients. Mix well by hand, kneading the mixture to make sure the ingredients are dispersed throughout. Form into a loaf and put into a baking pan or casserole with a lid or foil. Make sure there is room for the juices as the meatloaf bakes. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour 45 minutes, uncover. Carefully pour off as much of the juice as is safely possible,* but leaving a little of the liquid will help to keep the sauce from burning. Smear the cranberry/chili sauce over the meatloaf, keeping some of the sauce to spoon over the meatloaf as it bakes further. It's okay for some of the cranberry mixture to fall or run into the pan/baking dish with the little amount of juice left in the pan. Bake uncovered another 35 to 45 minutes. Check every 10 minutes.

As the meatloaf bakes, mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce in a sauce pan, except the cornstarch/water. Bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Mix the cornstarch and water well. With the sauce bubbling lightly, drizzle in some of the cornstarch/water mixture, stirring constantly. Continue gradually adding the cornstarch until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat. The sauce will thicken even more as it cools.  

* I used the juice over the mashed potatoes, but I first separated out the fat.   

A nice end piece of the meatloaf, with mashed potatoes, cottage cheese and corn ...

WORD HISTORY:
Cranberry-This word was borrowed from the Low German compound "Kraanbere/Kraanbeere" circa 1650. Low German "Kraan" is closely related to English "crane." "Supposedly" some believed the plant to resemble the bird, a crane. Another possibility is, cranberries often grow in and around marshy areas, where cranes live; thus, the possible association. For its history, see the "Word History" at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/01/homemade-liverwurst.html
Of course, Low German and German "Bere/Beere" are close cousins to English "berry." For the history of "berry," here is that link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/10/finance-basics-part-three.html

German Kloppschinken: Encrusted Ham

This dish is from the German region of Mecklenburg, which borders on the Baltic Sea (German: "Ostsee;" that is, "East Sea"). Mecklenburg is part of the German state of "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern," with the latter literally being "Fore Pommerania;" that is, "forward part of Pomerania," but often rendered as, "West(ern) Pommerania," in English. About 900 years ago, "Pomerania" was populated ("perhaps" sparsely so?) by Slavic people, who later "mixed" with the incoming Germans, who then took control of the area, with many of the Slavic elements thus losing their Slavic identity, although in the eastern part (near Poland), Slavic dialects and identity persisted. Pomerania is located along a stretch of coast of the Baltic Sea and during the period of Napoleon, the western part was under Swedish rule, with the larger part being part of the (then) German state of Prussia. After World War Two, most of Pomerania was ceded to the newly reformed Poland, with the exception of Vorpommern. The area fell within the Soviet occupation zone, and thus, it became part of the German Democratic Republic, most commonly called "East Germany" in Britain and the U.S. The Germans who settled there 900 years ago were Low German speakers; thus, the area remained so until the last century or two, as standard German was taught in schools, although Low German continued to be frequently spoken in every day life there until more recent times, and the number of inhabitants who are actually fluent in Low German has declined. So the "Klopp" part of name of the dish for this article is actually Low German, but it is "Klopfschinken" in standard German; that is, "knock or tap ham" (the German verb "klopfen" means "to knock, to tap, to rap") from the notion of "knocking or tapping on the crust to break it to get to the ham." Low German "Klopp" and standard German "Klopfen" are related to English "clap," as these words initially developed from the idea of the sound produced, rather than the action; thus the usage, "clap of thunder" (as a noun).

Ingredients:

1 pound smoked ham, cut into 4 slices (1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick)
1 cup milk (more if needed)
2/3 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs (not panko style)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
oil or clarified butter for frying
1 tablespoon oil (for batter)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Soak the ham slices in milk for about 2 hours. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Combine the other ingredients, except oil or clarified butter, into a thick batter. Pat ham slices dry and dip into the thick batter, coat well all over. Fry ham slices on both sides until golden brown. When tapping the ham with a fork or spoon, there should be a sound similar to the sound of tapping a loaf of freshly baked bread.   

Mustard greens are delicious, with a horseradish flavor, especially when uncooked. They are available in many produce sections of supermarkets, often sold in bags with the large stems already removed and with the mustard greens chopped, or you can also buy mustard greens in individual bunches that you must trim and chop yourself (this is what I buy). My grandmother used spinach for a similar dish (she used no chili pepper).

Braised Mustard Greens

2 pounds mustard greens, trimmed from any big stems
1 large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
6 slices bacon, chopped
1 serrano or jalapeño chili, chopped
1/2 cup cider vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a heavy bottom skillet, fry the bacon over medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and fry about two minutes, then add the garlic and the chili pepper. Cook until the onion softens a good deal. Add the beef stock, then about a minute later, add the sugar, then the vinegar. Stir well. Add the mustard greens, which will cook down. Season with salt and pepper and stir. When the greens cook down, remove the skillet from the heat. I prefer the greens themselves to cook only a couple of minutes; just until they cook down, but still have a little "life" in them.

"Kloppschinken" with braised mustard greens

WORD HISTORY: 
Shank-This word goes back to Indo European "skeng," which had the notion of "crooked, bent." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "skankon," which continued the general meaning, but also developed the more specific meaning "leg," from the notion of "the part that bends." In some Germanic dialects the meaning "awry, askew" developed from the "crooked, bent" idea. The Old Germanic form gave Old English "sceanca," which meant "leg." This later became "shanke," before the modern form, and the meaning tended to be applied to the "upper part of the leg." Related forms in other Germanic languages are: German "Schenkel" = thigh, leg;^ Dutch "schenkel" =knuckle, leg; West Frisian "shonk" =leg; Low German "Schanke" (now archaic); Icelandic "shakkur" ="mistaken, awry;" ^^ Norwegian "skank" =shank, calf of leg; I could not find a modern word in Swedish or Danish.

^ Typically modern German uses "Oberschenkel" (literally translated into English as "over /upper shank") for "upper leg," and "Unterschenkel" (literally "under shank") for "lower leg," but "Schenkel" is still in use. "Schinken," the German word for "ham," developed from the same Germanic form that produced English "shank" and German "Schenkel;" so, "the meat from the 'Schenkel'. "

^^ Old Norse, the forerunner of Icelandic, had "skakkr," with similar meaning, and it "may" have originally been "skankr," but the "n" sound died out.

How Big Is Voter Fraud?

This was first published in 2012.

As some of you may already know, recently there have been attempts by some states to remove people from the voter rolls. Further, there have also been modifications in some states as to how registered voters are actually permitted to vote, with some sort of photo identification being required by some, before a person can actually cast a ballot.*

I've tried to research these issues by checking what I consider to be non-partisan or objective sources, but these seem to be view and far between, and I really deemed nothing satisfactory. Most stories seem to come from either very conservative individuals or groups, or from very liberal individuals or groups. That doesn't mean the articles are incorrect, but I really haven't seen what I consider an in depth article dealing with the subject and presenting both sides of the arguments. To be quite honest, there are probably more than two sides to some of these arguments, but for the sake of simplicity, I'll use two basic points of view.

The basic argument by Republicans is that there is a major problem with voter fraud in America. To halt "non-citizens" from voting, they want proof that we are citizens. Republicans in Florida for instance, want some list of non citizens from the Department of Homeland Security. Further, if I understand this correctly, Republicans also seem to feel that non-registered people are voting in place of people legally registered, but who may be too ill to vote or may even be deceased, or that some people are voting more than once in any given election. In Ohio, there have also been attempts to curtail the "absentee voting" period, where people can vote by mail, or even in person at county election bureaus, in advance of the election.

Democrats argue that "voter fraud," in general, is an issue created by Republicans when the problem is very small and that is it an issue in search of a problem. They feel Republicans are overreacting. Further, Democrats believe Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout among poorer, and often minority, voters, who tend to be Democrats.

Just a little history here: the 1960 election was extremely close between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John Kennedy. In the end, Kennedy won the national popular vote by just over 100,000 votes out of about 70 million votes cast.** Actually these numbers are irrelevant, "in a sense," because American presidents are not elected by the overall popular vote, but by electoral votes, which are votes cast by electors from each state,*** thus making presidential elections a state by state campaign, rather than a true national campaign. Kennedy won the electoral vote with 303 votes (the winner needed a minimum of 269 at that time).

Not only was the national popular vote extremely close, but in several of the truly important state contests the vote was razor thin for one candidate or the other. In Hawaii, for example, Nixon won the state during the initial vote count, only to lose it to Kennedy by about 100 votes in a recount.**** Similarly, Kennedy was thought to have prevailed in California, a state with lots of electoral votes, but when absentee ballots were counted after election night, Nixon eked out a win. Illinois was carried by Kennedy in a highly controversial election. Kennedy led by less than 10,000 votes out of more than four and one half million votes cast in the state. Nixon carried much of the state, but in solidly Democratic Chicago, known for "vote early and often," Kennedy piled up a heavy total to overcome Nixon's strength in other parts of the state. Voter fraud was suspected, but the issue was eventually dropped by Republicans, when charges of Republican fraud were leveled by Democrats in some Republican counties. Fairly or unfairly, a consensus was eventually reached that any fraud or errors had benefited both sides, but had cancelled out enough of a gain for Nixon for Kennedy to carry the state. There were other contested states, but you get the idea. Republicans, including my father, carried a grudge against the 1960 election for many years into the future, but the thing was, in those times, the selection of Nixon or Kennedy was not seen by many folks as all that different, except for religious bigots who felt that if Kennedy were elected he would rule the country on the orders of the Pope or that everyone would be forced to attend morning Mass before heading to work. To be fair, Catholics rallied to Kennedy, and he undoubtedly benefited from that religious tilt. The positions of the two candidates were not all that strikingly different, and the idea that the republic was somehow in danger if one or the other were elected didn't seem to enter the minds of most Americans. This stands in stark contrast to more recent elections, where both sides feel absolutely threatened by the other.***** This just shows how polarized the country is.

* To my knowledge, these are all states with Republican governors or Republican legislatures, or both.

** Kennedy received just under 50% of the popular vote, but there were other candidates from various little known parties on the ballot which accounted for the balance of votes.

*** Each state has a number of electors determined by the number of its congressional representatives, plus its two U.S. senators. So, if your state has eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives, your state then has ten electors for the presidential election. Electors are chosen by varying state laws, but "typically," the state political parties each choose a slate of electors. Technically, when you vote for president, you are voting for these electors, and not directly for a particular candidate. If "Candidate X" receives more votes in your state than "Candidate Y," it is "assumed" that the electors for X's party will vote for their nominee, but there have been occasional exceptions, and some electors have occasionally declared themselves to be "uncommitted." The "Electoral College," as it is known, was set up by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between factions which wanted the president to be decided by popular vote, and those who wanted the president decided by Congress.

**** Understand, even if Nixon had retained Hawaii, it would not have changed the overall election result.

***** Some Democrats (and probably some independents and even some Republicans) seem to feel that the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was "stolen" for Bush, and that the decision led to the eventual invasion of Iraq, a war that ended up tearing at the fabric of our society, and that lax regulation of the financial system by the Bush administration led to the economic meltdown and the still lingering problems with the economy. The idea is, "elections (can) have serious consequences."

WORD HISTORY:
Pull-Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "pullian," which meant "to pluck, to pull." This later became "pullen," before the modern version. Low German, a close relative of English, has "pulen," which means "to pluck, to pull, to tear off," but it originally meant "to tear off the husk or shell." The language of the ancestral homeland of English in northern Germany is still Saxon,^ now commonly called Low German Saxon, but where they got the word that became English "pull" and Low German "pulen" is unknown. Dutch, another close English relative, has the noun "peul," which means "husk, pod," and my guess would be that the original meaning of Low German "pulen;" that is, "to tear off a husk or shell," transferred to the object of that action as a noun, "pod, husk."

^ Standard German is taught in school, but Low German is the indigenous language of northern Germany, although there are many variations (dialects).

English & Its Closest Relatives, Part Two

So which modern languages are the closest relatives of English? Most linguists say Frisian is the closest relative; in fact, Frisian and English belong to a subgroup of West Germanic, created by linguists, called "Anglo-Frisian." Frisian is spoken along the North Sea coastal areas in northwestern Europe, which includes parts of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Southern Denmark once had a few thousand Frisian speakers, but the language there is now virtually extinct. Frisian is divided into three dialects (variations), which are limited in mutually intelligible. The largest Frisian dialect is West Frisian, spoken by 300,000-400,000 Frisians in the Netherlands. East Frisian has declined markedly, but Saterland Frisian, spoken by a couple thousand people in northern Germany, is a remnant of the dialect. There is also North Frisian, spoken by some 10,000 in northern Germany, including on the islands off of the North Sea coast.

Another very close relative is Low German, sometimes simply called, get this, "Saxon," or "Low Saxon." The very terms tell you the language is close to English. Low German is not really so much of a written language, in the sense of a "standard" version, rather it has a good many dialects. The dialect in the general area around Hamburg-Bremen-Kiel is located in the ancestral homeland of English, and indeed many words are still very similar to English. As mentioned in "Part One," the Saxons were a large Germanic tribe, only part of which participated in the invasion of Britain. The language of the Saxons who remained in northern Germany is called "Old Saxon" by linguists, and it later became what is termed "Low German." Low German spread across northern Germany, even far into northeastern Germany, to regions now belonging to Poland and Lithuania. The vast territory covered by Low German gave rise to numerous dialects, as the language was influenced and altered by interaction with other languages, like Polish, Lithuanian, and certainly High German. The language of Berlin was originally Low German, but as the city rose in importance in the German state of Prussia, standard German, based largely upon High German, moved into Berlin as the language of government. An interesting situation developed, as High German could not totally displace the Low German of the city's populace. Instead, High German prevailed for the most part, but with certain Low German words and even Low German pronunciation of some sounds remaining. This gave Berlin the unique dialect called "Berlinerisch."* Numbers are difficult to verify, but somewhere between three and five million Germans seem to speak Low German on a fairly regular basis, if not daily. Several million more have substantial knowledge of Low German, but not enough to be considered truly fluent.

In the final installment, more close relatives of English.

* Standard High German came to be taught in schools throughout much of the German speaking world to make communication easy. Previously, when regional dialects were commonly spoken (some still are regularly used among families and friends), a person from Hamburg (Low German) and a person from Vienna (High German), for example, would not easily have understood one another (that's putting it mildly). The use of High German as a standard eliminated this problem, although dialects are still quite common, and these dialects also influence how people speak standard German. 
   
WORD HISTORY:
Behold-The ultimate origins of this word are unclear, although some believe it to be Indo European. It goes back to the Old Germanic compound "bihaldanan," which meant "to keep, to retain, take hold of." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "behealdan," which had similar meanings, but also "keep in view, hold in view," an additional meaning seemingly peculiar to English. The participle form, "beholden," is still used with the meaning "be obligated to," from the sense "be held to an obligation." German has "behalten," which means "keep or retain, including in memory; that is, remember;" Low German Saxon has "behoolden," with the same meaning as standard German; Dutch has "behouden" (notice the "l" is gone), meaning "keep, maintain, preserve;" Danish and Norwegian have "beholde" meaning “to keep, hold on, retain." Apparently Frisian, Icelandic and Swedish do not use related forms of the compound "behold," at least in modern times, but they do have forms of "hold," and that will be the subject of a history very soon..  

The German Question, Part Eighty-Nine

"A Divisive Treaty" Part One-The General Outline

The "Treaty of Versailles" was the treaty negotiated during the Paris Peace Conference, beginning in early 1919, to put an official end to the state of war between Germany and the Allies, and to determine war reparations and border adjustments in general, as only an armistice had been signed in November 1918.* With such a devastating war, with millions of dead and maimed, not to mention the tremendous property damage and economic dislocations, any treaty was bound to arouse passions on both sides, and even among the Allies themselves. The main negotiators were Britain, France, the United States and, sometimes, Italy.** As you can see, Germany was not included in the negotiations, although German representatives did arrive in Paris later, but only to hear what the Allied negotiators demanded, not to have input in the conference. The treaty was signed June 28, 1919.

This treaty is VERY important, and I'll be dealing with many of the specifics shortly, as some of the territorial adjustments went to the heart of the question, "Who is a German?" The treaty had ramifications, and it certainly had modest to substantial effect in helping to bring Adolf Hitler to power.

* Germany's allies signed separate treaties to officially end their participation in the Great War, and it should be noted, that Russia did not participate, as Russia and Germany had already signed a treaty in March 1918 ending hostilities against one another.

** The Italians were not always happy with the negotiations and they left the conference, but returned later. 

WORD HISTORY: 

Snap/Schnapps-I could not find a connection to an Indo European base for this word, but that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't one, although, except for recent centuries, the history on this word is sketchy. The noun and verb forms are from the same base word, and that word, then spelled "snappe," in English, came into English in the later 1400s as a borrowing from Low German and Dutch "snappen," which meant "attempt by an animal to make a quick bite, or seize something with its mouth," and we still say things like, "Be careful, the dog may 'snap' at you." This sense has made some linguists wonder if it is derived from a form of Low German/Dutch "snavel," which means "beak;" that is, the mouth part used for seizing (modern standard German has "Schnabel," a borrowing from Low German, with the "v" changed to "b"). The noun then developed a verb form. This certainly makes sense, and if this idea is correct, it would thus be related to English "nib," which in Anglo-Saxon was "neb(b)," and meant "beak, bill" (Old English also had "bile," I believe pronounced "bill-ah,"="bill, beak"). I have put the related parts in BOLD above. The Old Germanic dialects, including Old English, often used base words with various prefixes or suffixes to indicate specific meanings, and of course, there were compounds, so the "s" or "Sch" beginnings of the above German/Low German/Dutch words is not something uncommon. The "el" ending usually indicated a diminutive; that is, it makes the noun item smaller; thus perhaps "small beak." Old English had "heardneb," a compound meaning "hard beak." The notion of an animal using its beak to "quickly and suddenly" seize prey came to mean "quick bite," or "to grab quickly," in English, and we still use the word in a sort of figurative sense that way in, "I'm going to 'snap' up the bread that's on sale before it's gone." The "quickness" notion came to be associated with the word by the 1500s or 1600s, something still around, as in, "I did the job in a snap." The original meaning seems to have also included the idea of the "quick bite" being somewhat noisy; thus the additional association with sound, as in, "The branch 'snapped' from the high winds," which implies both sound and quickness/suddenness. In German, the idea of "quick bite," came to be applied to a hard liquor for "a quick gulp;" thus German "Schnaps" (notice only one "n" and the capital "S" is because all German nouns are capitalized). Standard German got the word from the same Low German word that gave English "snap;" that is, "snappen," which also gave Low German "snaps." German has the verb "schnappen," often used in the sense, "snap up a bit of fresh air," as well as being used similarly to English.

The German Question, Part Sixty

"Bismarck" Part Five/E "Bismarck as Chancellor & A Treaty With 'Contentious Relatives' ""Ethnic Minorities in Bismarckian Germany/"Northwest/Frisians"

Since the Polish areas of eastern Germany (prior to World War I) have been mentioned in some of the previous articles in this series, for those interested, "Anna Anderson," the woman who claimed to be "Anastasia," the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, was from that area. I did four articles on her. Here are the links, in sequence:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-all-love-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/some-additions-to-we-all-love-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/10/update-on-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/11/mystery-solved.html

The Frisians were an old Germanic tribe that settled along the northwest coastal areas of Europe (modern Netherlands, Germany, Denmark). Their language is close to English, and indeed they live in the same general area of the old Germanic tribes the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. These were the main Germanic elements which participated in the invasion of Briton, and historians believe that a fair number of Frisians were also counted among these invaders. Not all Saxons participated in the invasion, and their Germanic dialect, now referred to as "Low Saxon," or "Low German Saxon," flourished in that general northwest area of Europe, what is now the Netherlands and Germany. No question that over time, "Low German" (English, Frisian and Low German are all close relatives) made big inroads into the Frisian speaking population in the region. The 1900 census of Germany shows 20,600 Frisian speakers. How much that would have changed (downward) from Bismarck's time, I don't really know, but probably at least some. Not only was Frisian losing speakers to Low German, but by Bismarck's time, his promotion of standard German in schools would have made many Frisians bi-lingual, if not tri-lingual (Frisian, Low German, and standard German), and in somewhat rarer cases, multi-lingual (Frisian, Low German, standard German, and a dialect of Danish).* Today, Frisian, specifically "West" Frisian** is spoken in the Netherlands, adjacent to Germany, where there are approximately 350,000 (West) Frisian speakers.*** In Germany, our main concern in this article, "East" Frisian has been in decline for quite some time, and there are only about 2,000 remaining speakers of a dialect of East Frisian called "Saterland," in the German state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen, in German). "North" Frisian has about 10,000 speakers in the German state of "Schleswig-Holstein," where it is also spoken not only on the mainland, but on some German islands off the coast. In all cases, these East and North Frisian speakers also speak standard German, something that was undoubtedly not so true in Bismarck's time. The main thing about Bismarck and the Frisians is, he promoted the teaching of standard German in schools throughout the country, which gradually made Frisian and German dialects less and less important, although even today, Frisian is still used as an every day language by some in Germany, as are some German dialects, with standard German being used to communicate with German speakers from other areas.

(A Word History is below the notes)

* Low German speakers too were increasingly bi-lingual, being taught standard German in school. Today, Low German speakers have dwindled considerably, as standard German is used more and more. Low German has declined so much, that efforts have been made to promote the teaching of Low German in schools as a second language to keep it from further decline.

** Linguists break Frisian down into three dialects, "West," "East," and "North."

*** I am only using an approximation, and according to several sources, there are many more people of Frisian heritage in the Netherlands who understand West Frisian to varying degrees, but who are not considered fluent in the language, with some of these also being able to read and write some basic Frisian.

WORD HISTORY:
Schnell-This is one of the words frequently heard in movies or on TV when Germans, usually in a World War Two setting, are involved. You may be surprised to know that English has its own very similar word, although it is now archaic. I cannot find an Indo European root for this word, so I can only start with Old Germanic, which had "snellaz," meaning "quick, active." (There seems to have been a secondary meaning of "bold," and I found this additional meaning for both English and German.) This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "snel/snell," with the same basic meaning, and Old High German "snel," again with the same meaning. The word fell out of common usage in English at some point in the Middle Ages. The German word, eventually spelled "schnell," is still very much in use. In German, a "Schnellzug" is an "express train." Low German has "snell," Dutch has "snel." A form of the word was borrowed into some of the Latin-based languages from Frankish ''snel."

The German Question, Part Twenty-Two

Slightly updated July 30, 2015


In the early days, Berlin became the main city and capital of Brandenburg, and Königsberg became the capital of Prussia. When the two areas were merged, Berlin became the capital.

The people of the entire northern area of Germany were Low German speakers, and modern Dutch, Frisian, and ENGLISH all are closely related to these Low German dialects. Don't forget, the northern coastal area of modern Germany and part of Holland, along with the western coast of Denmark, is the ancestral homeland of English, as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes lived there before going to Britain and founding England, although not all Saxons left the area, and a substantial number remained on the Continent (their language is called "Old Saxon").

As these northern Germans moved eastward into Prussia and Brandenburg,* they came into contact with a number of Slavic, Old Prussian, and Lithuanian dialects,** and a number of words were borrowed into these Low German dialects from these non-Germanic speakers.*** Berlin eventually became a separate linguistic case. The initial settlers there were Low German speakers, but as Berlin became an important government center, and with the publication of Luther's Bible giving rise to a more standard form of German, that standard form began to take over, but it never completely pushed out Low German, even to this day, and "Berlinerisch," as the Berlin dialect is called, is essentially standard German with some Low German characteristics, and borrowings from Slavic and French (see Part 21 about the French Huguenots). Much later still, Jewish refugees from Polish territories brought new terms with them when they settled in Berlin.**** In the countryside outside of Berlin, Low German is still spoken in some places, but standard German is now spoken by all (including in Berlin), save for perhaps some very elderly people, and the number of Low German speakers; that is, people who actually know Low German, has declined substantially since the end of World War Two. It's always important to remember, while I say standard German (Hochdeutsch) is spoken by all, that doesn't mean there aren't regional or local dialect characteristics used in their renderings of that "standard German," including some distinct vocabulary or pronunciation differences, which is really no different from English, or likely any other language, and German regional dialects are still often spoken at home and among other family members, neighbors and friends; so, German dialects, some very strong and difficult to understand, persist right up to the present.  

One of the interesting characteristics of "Berlinerisch" (pronounced as if, bear-lean-air-ish) is the way some words are pronounced, compared to standard German. In standard German one would say, "Ich bin in Berlin geboren" (I was born in Berlin), but in Berlin dialect, it is, "Ik bin in Berlin jeboren," with the "ch" sound of "ich" ("I") being pronounced/spelled "k" (this is a tendency in most of the Low German dialects, and that was how it was spelled in English for many centuries). The "g" is spelled "j," but is pronounced like English "y," so phonetically, "Ik bin in Bear-lean yeboren." Further, the Low German influences are still present, as standard German "w-a-s" (which means "what," and is pronounced "vahs," with the "a" of "father") is "wat" in Berlin dialect (again with the "a" of "father"). Likewise, "that" is "det/dat" in Berlin dialect, but "das" in standard German.***** You can see the Low German sounds are more closely related to English. (A Word History is below the notes)

* They initially moved into areas just east of their homelands, known as Mecklenburg and Pomerania, which were also occupied by Slavic speakers.

** All are Indo European languages and are therefore related to the Germanic languages, but further down the family tree. Old Prussian and Lithuanian are closely related, as is Latvian, and all belong to the Baltic part of Indo European, although in more modern times, a good many linguists, but not all, link the Baltic languages with Slavic, and call them "Balto-Slavic." Old Prussian is no longer spoken, and is considered a "dead" language.

*** The Swedes, North Germanic speakers, occupied much of this northern area at various times later on (Sweden was once a formidable military power), and they too contributed influences on some of these German dialects in particular areas.

**** Yiddish, which literally means "Jewish," is a Germanic language that developed about a thousand or more years ago, seemingly in the Rhineland area of Germany. It was based upon the High German dialect of that area, with elements from various German dialects, Hebrew, Slavic, and some Latin-based languages, like Rumanian. It was initially referred to as "taytsh/taytsch" (which meant "German," compared to Middle High German "tiutsch" and modern German "Deutsch"). As Jews moved across eastern Europe, they took this language along, thus picking up those various other characteristics from Slavic and Rumanian over time. It seems the term "Yiddish" wasn't really applied to the language until the 1700s. It is still spoken today, even in America, principally in New York City.

***** These differences are due to a sound shift which occurred after Anglo-Saxon was already established in Britain, and since the northern low dialects were not affected by this sound shift, English remains closer to these low dialects. In the dialects more to the south, the "t" tended to become "s," and these dialects came to be called "high," as they were in more elevated terrain. Standard German is based upon "High German." In English we have "kettle," but in High German it is "Kessel," for instance.

WORD HISTORY:
Schnitzel-This goes back to Old Germanic "snithan(an)," which meant "to cut, to slice." This gave Old High German "snidan" and later "sniden." This gave birth to "snitzen" (later "schnitzen"), which meant "to carve, to slice." The diminutive (to make something smaller) form "snitzel/schnitzel" then developed. This seems to have been borrowed into English in the mid 1800s, probably as the German meat dish, "breaded cutlet of pork or veal, which is then fried," became popular. Further, a "Schnitzelbank" is a "cutting bench for sawing wood," as in the song/rhyme "Ist Das Nicht Ein Schnitzelbank," some of you may be familiar with. By the way, before English took on the word "slice" from French, and before English settled on "cut," we used a form of "snithan" to mean "slice/cut/slaughter," and a "snaed" was "a small piece cut from something." While unconfirmed, I have to believe that our word "snide," as in "snide (sharp/cutting) remark," traces back to this.

NOTE: As you can see, I have not given a source for the Old Germanic form. This is because I have never totally bought the source offered by some of Indo European "sneit/snyet," with the meaning "to cut." That doesn't mean this is not correct, but I have just not been convinced.