LINGUIST List 11.2434

Fri Nov 10 2000

Qs: "spitten image", Aberesh Language in Italy

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



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Directory

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

    Message 1: The cross-linguistic "spitten image"

     Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 12:57:08 +0800
    From: Laurence Horn <laurence.hornyale.edu>
    Subject: The cross-linguistic "spitten image"


    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>

    Message 2: Aberesh vs Albanian

     Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2000 12:21:54 -0500
    From: Vattimo, Ronald J <ronald.j.vattimolmco.com>
    Subject: Aberesh vs Albanian


    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