LINGUIST List 11.2434

Fri Nov 10 2000

Qs: "spitten image", Aberesh Language in Italy

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Laurence Horn, The cross-linguistic "spitten image"
2. Vattimo, Ronald J, Aberesh vs Albanian

Dear listees,

I am trying to compile an inventory of equivalents of the French 
expression "C'est X tout crachE", corresponding to the English 
expression variously rendered as the "spittin' image", "spitting 
image", "spit and image", or "spit an' image". (Some of you will 
recall that I argued several years ago in this forum for an analysis 
along the lines of "spitten image", with the dialectal past 
participle functioning as pre-nominal adjective, and I'm hoping to 
invoke these cross-linguistic correspondences to support this view.) 
So far, I have obtained (from various sources):

(French) C'est (le portrait de) son p`ere tout crachE.
(German) Er sieht seinem Vater aenlich wie gepuckt.
(Dutch) Hij is zihn vader gespogen.
(Greek) O Janis ine ftystos o pateras tou.

- all involving a reference to someone being literally the "spitten 
image" of his father. What I'm wondering is how many more such 
counterparts there are out there, and especially whether there are 
any such expressions in NON-Indo-European languages. Please respond 
directly to me and I'll summarize any interesting results.

Larry Horn <laurence.hornyale.edu>

I traveled to Spezzano Albanese in Calabria, Italy.last year. The
Aberesh language is spoken and street signs are in Italian and
Aberesh. Has there been any study to determine the evolution of
Albanian in Albania versus Alberesh in an isolated villiage like
Spezzano over the last 500 years? 

Ron Vattimo, Levittown, PA