Re: -e -a gender distinction in Swedish

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
wrote:

> > Well, I must by my own experience maintain that the alternance

–e – a

> > is rather genuine in colloquial language in the west of Sweden,

in

> > opposition to other parts, where the distinction is only
> maintained
> > in refined written language and the colloquial ending is

generally -a.

Coming to think about it, in substantivated adjectives gender
distinction –e/-a is used in all parts Sweden, naturally in all
layers of the language, like the use of proper names such as
Inge/Inga, Helge/Helga Rune/Runa Tore/Tora etc.
A translation of the film classic The Good, the Bad, the Ugly with
Den ond-a, den god-a, den ful-a would for every now living Swede
lead to association with Cat Woman rather than Clint Eastwood (I
don't remember if he was "Den god-e" or "Den ond-e"; certainly
not "Den fule").

> Half correct. I think (with Kuhn) that the NWpeople (in NWGermany
> and the Netherlands, more precisely the area between Weser/Aller

and

> Somme/Oise) were infiltrated and subdued by the Proto-Germanic
> speakers coming from Thuringia, who at the same time infiltrated
> Denmark (South & East Jutland and Fyn), then Sweden, then Norway,
> and last Sjælland, if Snorri's chronology is to be trusted.
> In other words, Scandinavia wasn't Germanic-speaking before appr.
> the first century BCE.

Interesting about Själland. Could that have any reference to your
posting about –löse some weeks ago?

> > deep-rooted memory of the massacre in Stockholm 1520 staged by
> > Christian den andre (in Denmark also: den gode) ?
>
>
> Swedes tend to forget that he was kicked out of Denmark, too ;-)

Well it was for the nobility that Christian wasn't good.
If it interests you, one town where he is still held in honour
is Ängelholm of which he was the founder. There you have for
instance "Christian den andres bro" and I saw in the paper some days
ago that a statue of him will be erected in the near future in the
old square.

I think it's interesting that Småland, Östergötland(?) and

> Gotland have infinitives in -e, against standard -a (didn't Gustav
> Vasa have trouble with the loyalty of Småland?)

Cf. the unsubmissiveness of "Emil in Lönneberga".

>
>
> And a self-correction: According to Brøndum-Nielsen the original

two-

> gender area is eastern Jutland. The islands, including Sjælland,

are

> solidly three-gender, except for Amager (these are old data!).
>
>
>
> Torsten

Interesting about Amager. The last stronghold of Pregermanic
Själland?


Lars