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The Friesian language is dead, leastwise
in Ostfriesland. For many centuries Low German and High German have
supplanted the old language. Only in the Saterland of southern Oldenburg
is it still spoken. Dr. Marron C. Fort, leader of the work group
"Low German and Sater Friesian" of the University of
Oldenburg, has presented a translation of the New Testament and the Book
of Psalms in Sater Friesian. And this translation, says the scientist
from Boston, could be suitable for the revival the old language in its
homeland.
When the Priest Hubert Moormann of Ramshoh, together with the cultural
society Seelter Búund, planned the first mass in Sater Friesian in
1995, the man of God, who was only conversant in High and Low German,
had a big problem: how to hold a sermon in Sater Friesian, how to read
from the Bible in the old East Friesian language. Sater Friesian - this
language spoken by about 2,000 people in Saterland and protected by the
European charter for regional and minority languages - has never been a
language used in the church of this Catholic parish. So there were
neither texts nor hymns for the priest to fall back on. Hubert Moormann
knew only one way out. He asked Dr. Marron C. Fort to prepare a
translation of the text needed for the mass. Fort was happy to oblige.
As a "Friesian by the Grace of God" - as the weekly "Zeit"
(Time) called him a few years ago - this scientist was especially well
suited for this task. He had come to Saterland for the first time in
1966. In the following years he had researched the language and culture
of this region and had published several books on its language and
traditions. Soon the native US American could speak Sater Friesian and
Low German (Platt) fluently. The state of Lower Saxony commissioned him,
who meanwhile had been granted a German passport, to lead the work group
Low German and Sater Friesian at the University of Oldenburg. In the
succeeding years, Dr. Fort gladly fulfilled requests for additional
translations of Biblical texts for Saterland masses. Finally, in 1997,
the priest from Ramsloh asked the scientist for a complete translation
of the New Testament. Dr. Fort remembers, "I jokingly told the
Catholic priest, that as long as he was entrusting a 'lütterske düvel'
(Lutheran devil) with this task, I would be glad undertake it."
The Second Vatican Council in 1962 had permitted the use of native
languages in the liturgy, reasoning,
"Access to Holy Scriptures has to be wide open to all those who
believe in Christ." This includes Sater Friesians, the translator
thought, and commenced his labors. The translation of the New Testament
and the Book of Psalms into Sater Friesian, Dr. Fort stresses, was in
the end only possible with his preceding work on a dictionary. Together
with the older folks from Saterland, he has been engaged for many years
in the creation of a Sater Friesian dictionary comprised of about 30,000
entries. Thus he had acquired a considerable vocabulary which very much
simplified the work on his translations. This dictionary is scheduled
for publication in the form of a CD in several months.
Regarding the history of Sater Friesian, Dr. Fort explains, "The
Sater Friesians immigrated to present-day Saterland most likely around
1,000 A.D. after storm surges along the coast . They maintained their
language vs. the Westfalian people already living there."The Sater
Friesian language spoken in the Oldenburg parish Saterland goes back to
Old Friesian roots which until approximately 1550 was spoken everywhere
in Ostfriesland. Roughly 150 years before that time, Low German had
already started to penetrate the area, at first as the language of
documents. As the language of the Hanseatic league it eventually became
the spoken language everywhere in Ostfriesland. Saterland lies in the
northwest corner of Oldenburg's Cloppenburg county. It borders on the
East Friesian counties Leer and Emsland. Until the beginning of the 19th
century it was barely accessible by public transportation, as it was
surrounded by peat bogs. It could be reached more easily in the winter
when the bogs were frozen over. The result of this relative isolation
was that the old East Friesian language has been kept alive to this day.
As far as this Bible translation goes, "It is a translation into
East Lauwers Friesian, i.e., Friesian as it was spoken before 1550
between Lauwersmeer (Lake Lauwers in Holland, NW of Groningen) and
Wurstnerland (the coastal area between the Weser and Elbe estuaries in
Germany). In a few instances, however, I have taken a word, which was
untraceable in Sater Friesian, from Old Friesian or from West Lauwers
Friesian and adapted it to the sound of Sater Friesian." With the
aid of this limited borrowing from these languages which are closely
related to Sater Friesian, it was possible to maintain the completely
Friesian character of the translation. Dr. Fort said: "Today a
Bible translation into Sater Friesian can only be about
98 percent genuine. In some places it just can't be done. As I
said, in such instances I have used the words from Old Friesian. An
Example: the word "Gnade" (German for 'mercy'). The Sater
Friesians today use the Low German word 'Gnode'. But in my translation I
used the Old Friesian word 'Naide". Dr. Fort is convinced that
through faithful linguistic research a purely Friesian model has been
created. And he doesn't deny that with it he hopes to restore among the
Sater Friesians some of their old language which has already been lost.
"Otherwise these words would go under. This is happening to Low
German (Platt) now. Who still knows the Platt word 'haast' for 'almost'?
Most folks use 'bold' which is not as far removed from the High
German 'beinahe.'
Important for Dr. Fort has been the keeping alive of the linguistic
style of Holy Writ in his translation. "It is a clear and sober
one. It should neither have the sound of legalese nor that of the
vernacular. Low German especially is afflicted with a bias of being
particularly blunt. But this is neither true for Low German nor for
Friesian. Swearwords and terms of abuse are not necessarily part of
everyday speech. Both languages have elevated stylistic levels of
speech." So Dr. Fort let himself be guided by the premise,
"The language of the New Testament and the Book of Psalms is like
the language of a comfortable discussion. Serious but not stilted, plain
but not blunt." Dr. Marron C. Fort is a member of the Friesian
Forum. He is dreaming of reviving the old Friesian language also in
Ostfriesland. "Friesian is not a cloudcuckoocastle language. It is
the old language of Ostfriesland." He offers for consideration,
"There are Friesian hotels here, Friesian restaurants, etc., but
nary anybody who speaks Friesian." His suggestion: why not offer
Friesian language courses in the schools. It
surely would be a pleasant thought to allow the old Friesian
language to come back home, even if only as a representative language.
He wants the translation of the New Testament and the Psalms to be
understood as an offer to all who do not speak Friesian. "It is an
invitation to become part of a culture long thought to have been
forgotten."
But back to the translation: as a reading aid the Biblical names take
their cues from the High German translation of Nestle-Aland, "The
New Testament Greek and German." The chapter headings and inserts
are in German and Friesian. The volume is prefaced by rules for
pronunciation and spelling of Sater Friesian as well as information
concerning its history. Furthermore, the appendix contains a 40-page
Friesian glossary. This should make reading this 547-page volume easier
for the non-Friesian too.
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