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Paulclem

Linguistic Archaeology?

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Paulclem
, 03-27-2010 at 06:19 PM (3449 Views)
Linguistic Archaeology anyone?

I've been up town today with my lad who's had a big toenail off, and nothing much happened as we sat in the coffee shop in Coventry City Centre.

So I thought I'd talk about linguistic Archaeology, which I came across a few years ago by reading Melvin Braggs "A History of English", and watching his series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaRSdjfC4IQ

As kids we used to play in the streets around our houses, and we'd say "are you leking?" (Pronounced by us - lake-ing). This meant, "Are you playing?"

I didn't travel much, except to play ruby, until I went to university. There I found, to my great surprise, that people didn't know what I was saying when I asked them if we were "leking rugby today".I just assumed it was a Yorkshire word, and thought no more about it.

Fifteen years or so later, I found out that leke actually means play in Danish from Melvyn Bragg's book. (The online dictionary I just looked it up on has it as a mating place for animals, or sport - which I suppose links. The google translation of play from English into Danish renders "lege".)

Reading on I found that the Danes had established their own swathe of land across the North East of England, and that York was its capital. King Alfred the Great had signed a treaty with the Danes alowing trade, and the Danes were settling with the population already in England.

So a word we used as kids in a small Yorkshire City had survived over a thousand years within the language, and is still being used by my relatives still living there. Linguistic Archaeology! - marvellous.
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  1. Buh4Bee's Avatar
    I have to admit this is quite marvelous. I have always enjoyed learning about the etymology of a word. Thanks for sharing.
  2. Paulclem's Avatar
    Thanks. I find it fascinating.
  3. Virgil's Avatar
    Oh I find it fascinating too Paul. English is such a rich language. What we lack in sound beauty (as opposed to the Romance laguages) we make up in diviersity and breath of vocabulary. Those Scandinavian imported words are supposed to have come in through your north east. I always remember "egg" as one word that has firmly rooted into English from Scandinavia. "Leking" sounds really interesting. I couldn't find it in an english etomology dictionary. Sounds like a word that has been in the local vocabulary but never made it into the official language. I hope someone in your area is documenting this and other such words.

    One of my favorite classes in college was the history of the English language. It took one from the Indo-European to Old English to Middle English to modern English, and all the influential imports along the way. It was marvelously fascinating. It really puts the language into perspective. I highly recommend everyone taking it if ever the opportunity comes up. There are also some good books on the subject. From what I remember there was a time that a notthern Englishman could not understand a southern Englishman. Also I think there is a dividing line between east and west that evolved based on which side of an ancient Roman road one was on. Great blog!
  4. qimissung's Avatar
    That was all the more interesting for having such a personal angle! Linguistics is fascinating. (But I'm glad I didn't have to wade through a textbook to learn it, all the same)

    Hope your boy's toe is doing better.
  5. Lote-Tree's Avatar
    No way! Esperanto is a rich Language ;-)

    English is a terrible language! That is why world over speaks it ;-)
  6. Paulclem's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Virgil
    Oh I find it fascinating too Paul. English is such a rich language. What we lack in sound beauty (as opposed to the Romance laguages) we make up in diviersity and breath of vocabulary. Those Scandinavian imported words are supposed to have come in through your north east. I always remember "egg" as one word that has firmly rooted into English from Scandinavia. "Leking" sounds really interesting. I couldn't find it in an english etomology dictionary. Sounds like a word that has been in the local vocabulary but never made it into the official language. I hope someone in your area is documenting this and other such words.

    One of my favorite classes in college was the history of the English language. It took one from the Indo-European to Old English to Middle English to modern English, and all the influential imports along the way. It was marvelously fascinating. It really puts the language into perspective. I highly recommend everyone taking it if ever the opportunity comes up. There are also some good books on the subject. From what I remember there was a time that a notthern Englishman could not understand a southern Englishman. Also I think there is a dividing line between east and west that evolved based on which side of an ancient Roman road one was on. Great blog!
    I found the information on leke in Melvyn Bragg's The Story of English. It resonated with my experience. I looked at the linguistic side of english on an English language course a few years ago. I would recomment it as well.

    There are quite few Englishmen that stll can't understand a Glaswegian. I worked with such a bloke for two years without understanding a word he said. Luckily he didn't talk to me much.
  7. Paulclem's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by qimissung
    That was all the more interesting for having such a personal angle! Linguistics is fascinating. (But I'm glad I didn't have to wade through a textbook to learn it, all the same)

    Hope your boy's toe is doing better.

    Thanks. He's doing well.